


Bad Timing

by biggest_stupidhead



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cute Eren Yeager, F/F, F/M, Female Hange Zoë, Hange Zoë & Levi Are Best Friends, Hange Zoë Being Hange Zoë, High School Student Eren Yeager, Jealous Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Kenny Ackerman Being an Asshole, M/M, Mentioned Kenny Ackerman, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi Are Siblings, Mike Zacharias Lives, Minor Hange Zoë/Erwin Smith, Minor Krista Lenz | Historia Reiss/Ymir, Minor Levi/Petra Ral, Minor Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Minor Mikasa Ackerman/Eren Yeager, Minor Sasha Blouse/Connie Springer, Party Games, Partying, Protective Annie Leonhart, Punk Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Sasha Blouse Being Sasha Blouse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-14 23:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 67,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29550072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biggest_stupidhead/pseuds/biggest_stupidhead
Summary: How do you explain to your friends that you're falling for your big brother's best friend?
Relationships: Annie Leonhart/Reader, Erwin Smith/Hange Zoë, Jean Kirstein/Reader, Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)/You, Levi Ackerman & Reader, Levi Ackerman/Petra Ral, Levi Ackerman/Reader, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 23
Kudos: 128





	1. High school Sucks

You sighed, slumping in the uncomfortable plastic chair. Your back was killing you, it was only 1st period but you were more than eager for the day to end. Your chemistry teacher stood in the front of the room flipping through the slides on the board. You couldn't care less, it was Friday, and you were ready for the weekend. You folded your arms and rested your head in the crook of your elbow, turning your head slightly to the left you gazed longingly out of the second story window. It was a gloomy fall day, surely there would be a football game tonight, not that you would be attending. A strong gust of wind blew a flurry of colorful leaves past the window, the clouds seemed to grow increasingly darker. You managed to turn back to the front of the class and at least pretend that you were paying attention, your classmates on the other hand did not even try to hide their disinterest. Sasha was rummaging through her lunch box, Connie was balancing a pencil on his upper lip, Eren had his head rested on his forearm his other hand held his phone under the desk as he mindlessly tapped through peoples' snapchat stories. Mikasa would send him disapproving glares every once in a while as she diligently copied down the notes. Armin sat next to you, separating you from Mikasa and Eren, he also was taking excellent notes, even going as far as copying down all of the graphs and diagrams. You risked another glance out the window to your left to see a few fat rain drops falling out of the sky.

You smiled softly, the thought of sitting at home tucked under your favorite quilt with a cup of tea and a good book. You would have the house all to yourself tonight, your older brother Erwin was a senior, captain of the football team and golden boy of the school. He was the school's varsity quarterback, giving him an impressive social status, he would surely be playing in the game tonight. Your mother worked as a nurse at your local hospital, often opting to take the nightshifts, meaning you rarely saw her. You hummed thoughtfully, your mind wandering as you increasingly lost interest in the lecture. Now you were considering what to make for dinner, you could make macaroni and cheese, or a grilled cheese with tomato soup? Your teacher still droned on at the front of the class, now working out a simple stoichiometry problem. The sound of the door opening and quickly closing drew you out of your daze, Hange entered the room carrying a large box of beakers and test tubes. She gently kicked the door closed before making her way to the back of the large classroom to begin organizing and cleaning the glassware. You caught her eye and smiled at her, wanting very badly to speak with her, she always managed to keep you on your toes and very much in the present. You had a bad tendency to get lost in your thoughts and daydream, but she never gave you a chance whenever you were in her presence. She smiled back as she gently placed the box on one of the lab stations in the back and began pulling the equipment out one by one.

Hange was also a senior this year, she was easily the top of her class, she had already accumulated enough credits so instead of taking pottery or something she opted to be a teacher's assistant for your chemistry teacher. You slid your phone out of your pocket and opened your messages, you scrolled until you found Hange's contact, you quickly typed out a message, "want to come over and bake pumpkin cookies after school?" before pocketing your phone once more. The loud ding from the back of the room signaled that she had received your message, your teacher paused and gave Hange a pointed glance, one eyebrow raised. Hange chuckled nervously and squeaked out a meek 'sorry'. Satisfied, your teacher turned back to the bored and continued the lesson. Your phone vibrated, you pulled it out of your pocket and smiled at the message, "of course! then we can take them to the game!" the excitement you felt quickly vanished, you should have known she would want to go to the game, she was dating your brother for crying out loud. You sighed and glanced out the window once more, the rain had slowed to more of a mist than a shower, but now a fog was rolling just above the damp ground. It looked freezing out there, you couldn't imagine how cold it would be tonight. God it was so tempting to text Hange back with some bull shit about a project due Sunday night, but that would be shitty of you. Reluctantly you typed your reply, "yeah of course!" you sent the message and then placed your phone face down on the desk.

There was only about ten minutes left in class, thank God. You risked another glance at Armin's notebook and frowned at the neat handwriting, why was he so neat? It bothered you, you flinched when you heard your phone vibrate on the desk, you quickly picked it up and flipped it over to see the lock screen. You'd gotten a snapchat from Eren, you opened your phone and quickly opened the message. You couldn't help but smile as you looked at the picture, it was dark but you could make out his face and his bright green eyes, the classic text written across your screen made you smile, "what's the move tonight?" . Over the years your house had become known as the party house, due to your mother never being home your older brother had thrown some impressive parties, and you often had your friends over as well, nothing like the events your brother hosted, but still a gathering. You copied Eren's position, bringing your phone beneath the desk to snap a quick picture, and quickly typing back, "going to the game with Hange, Erwin might have something planned I'll be in touch." . You pressed send before you began packing up your things. Eren lifted his head and caught your eyes, you shared an impish grin before you returned your focus to gathering your things. Your teacher closed the powerpoint and began wrapping up class by reminding you about assignments that were due, not that you were listening. Finally only two minutes left, hopefully the rest of the day would go by faster than that class. 

______

You bounced your knee anxiously as you watched the clock hands slide sluggishly across the face of the clock, only 15 minutes until the school day ended. You had agreed to meet Hange at her beat up Honda CR-V. You shifted in your seat, your eyes lingered on the window as your Spanish teacher reviewed the key points of her lecture. You could see the parking lot from where you sat, some kids had already slipped out of the building and were running through the rain to get to their cars to beat the traffic. You considered asking to go to the bathroom but decided that you would feel too guilty to skip your sweet Spanish teacher's class. You sat up a bit straighter when you caught the sight of a particular dark haired boy walking briskly across the parking lot. Levi Ackerman, the school's designated bad boy, known for his standoffish behavior and his foul mouth, he was a fiend always ripping a juul and coming to class hungover. Yes he was a bad kid but somehow he had managed to keep his grades up and remain in the top ten percentage of your class. But the strangest thing about him was his unique friendship with your older brother, his complete opposite. You'd known Levi for a long time now, he often came over to your house on the weekdays to work on homework with your brother and then he'd be back on the weekends to drink all of your liquor. You pursed your lips as you watched him climb into his beat up 1981 BMW, he loved that car. You'd only gotten the privilege of riding in it a handful of times but each time he had explicitly told you not to make a mess of his car. You watched him pull out of the parking lot and out onto the campus' main street to get onto the county road that lead to your remote house. You sighed rather loudly as you realized Hange probably invited him over, since they shared a common bond with Erwin they had also grown rather close. You glanced once more at the clock and felt a rush of relief when you saw that the day would be over in precisely three minutes. You quickly threw your things into your backpack and gathered yourself to congregate by the door with your classmates. As you rocked on the balls of your feet you were startled when a heavy hand fell onto your shoulder. You turned around and met Jean's hazel eyes, he left his hand on your shoulder as you turned around to address him. You pulled your ear buds out with a small sigh.

"What's up?" you asked, Jean's cheeks flushed slightly as he realized he had your undivided attention. You raised an eyebrow, quickly losing patience with the boy.

"Oh I-" he was cut off by the loud ring of the bell, your classmates pushed you out into the already crowded hallway. Jean kept a firm grip on your shoulder as you both rushed into the hallway. You weaved through the crowd with Jean trailing behind you like a small child, he switched his grasp from your shoulder onto your backpack. You felt your lip curl with annoyance as you felt him lagging behind you. Finally you found yourself in a less crowded area where he could switch to your left side, releasing your backpack once he was sure you wouldn't run away.

"Anyway as I was saying... You going to the game tonight?" Jean asked as he matched your pace. You nodded, struggling to wrestle your umbrella out of the side pocket of your backpack. Jean noticed and quickly moved to pull it out for you. You pushed through the front doors of the school and paused under the overhanging roof, Jean pushed the umbrella open and held it up to cover the both of you. You smiled up at him as you both stepped into the rain.

"Yeah I wasn't planning until the second half though." you yelled over the wind as he followed you towards Hange's car. He nodded, daring to look up at the clouds as the wind whipped around the both of you.

"Where you heading to now?" he asked as you reached the parking lot,

"Hange's car, it's the black one over there." you said, lifting your finger to point at her car, you could already see her in the driver's seat scrolling through her phone. Jean nodded and picked up the pace as you hurried through the busy lot. Just as you were about to turn down the row to get to Hange, a car pulled straight out in front of you, a brand new black audi. Jean snarled, leaning forward to pound his fist onto the hood of the car. You laughed at Eren's enraged expression, Mikasa turned and scolded him, while Armin leaned forward from the back seat to wave apologetically to you. You tugged on Jean's arm to get out of the way, as they pulled away Eren stuck up his middle finger to Jean, who kindly returned the gesture. Finally you reached the car, thanking Jean, you let him keep your umbrella since he had gone so far out of his way to walk with you. You waved goodbye to him as you settled into the passenger seat. Hange raised an eyebrow, you blushed slightly offended that she would think that you would ever give Jean the time of day.

"What? I hate when you make that face." you giggled as she wiggled her eyebrows and put the car in drive. Getting off of campus took about 15 minutes due to the heavy traffic, it was only a good 20 minute drive to get to your house. Your school was located in a small town, mostly made up of farmers, factory workers, and other small business owners. You lived out in the woods, your house tucked nicely behind a thick wall of oak trees and the occasional walnut. Hence why it was such a hot party spot, your driveway was long and winding through the trees, just off of the county road. Hange turned up her music as you pulled off campus and onto the road. You felt the stress slowly falling off of your shoulders as you got further away from the school. You focused on the colorful trees and the houses that blurred by. Hange's phone rang, interrupting the music, she unplugged it from the aux and wordlessly handed it to you. Without looking at the name you answered.

"Hello, uh this is (Y/n) Hange's driving, can I take a messge?" you said, looking at Hange for support, but her eyes were glued to the road.

"Tch, yeah you tell her that if she doesn't hurry up and get here I am going to freeze my ass off in this weather." you blinked, surprised to hear Levi's monotone voice on the other side of the phone.

"Be there in 5." you said returning his clipped tone. With that you hung up, wanting to have the pleasure of ending the call before he could. Hange glanced over a smile spreading across her face.

"Maybe he shouldn't have left school so early if he didn't want to wait on us huh?" she joked, jabbing her elbow playfully into your bicep.

"Yeah" you huffed as you watched the suburban scenery melt into the more remote countryside that you called home. The manicured lawns morphed into golden fields of corn pastures with cows out grazing. Finally you turned onto your road and you reached into your bag to pull out your house key. You knew that if you spent extra time fishing out the key in front of Levi he would probably hit you. Don't ask how you knew that. Hange turned onto your driveway and pulled up to your garage. Levi's car was parked off to the side under your basketball hoop like usual.

Hange pulled right up beside him, leaning over to wave enthusiastically at him. He barely spared her a glance before climbing out of his car. You and Hange followed suit, you didn't bother greeting Levi, having learned a long time ago that he wouldn't return the sentiment. Instead you focused on making it to the front door before Levi so you could open the door without having to worry about him kicking out your knees or something. He liked to pick on you, especially when Erwin wasn't around. It didn't bother you much but it was annoying, you were used to your brother picking on you in a similar manner so you weren't very surprised when Levi picked up the habit as well.

You quickly unlocked the door and pushed into your house. You kicked your shoes off and dropped your bag before shooting upstairs to your room to change. The game didn't start until 7:00 which gave you about 4 hours until you would leave here. Plenty of time to make cookies and prep the house for whatever would be going on tonight. Just when you were taking your shirt off to slip on an older shirt that you wouldn't mind getting dirty, you heard a crash downstairs. You froze in your tracks, a loud groan and then the sound of Hange's manic laughter floated up the stairs, filling the silence of your house.

You groaned, pulling the shirt on, not bothering with a bra, and a pair of sweatpants you quickly made your way down the stairs. You frowned when you walked into the kitchen and found Levi staring in horror at the sight of pumpkin puree spilled all over the floor. Hange was doubled over, pointing at the mess as she cackled, "It looks like barf!" she howled as she leaned against the counter for support. You couldn't help but crack a smile at Levi's horrified face as he quickly left the kitchen, no doubt in search of a mop. Despite his careless attitude he actually did care about maybe three main things, 1.) having clean surroundings, 2.) keeping a full stock of weed, or some other means of getting intoxicated, and finally 3.) getting occasional pussy.

At least that's what you figured to be his top priorities. Maybe you could put defending his friends honor in there somewhere, but that usually was followed by him degrading them himself. For example if someone was talking trash about Erwin, Levi would beat the shit out of them and then precede to tell Erwin later that afternoon that his face looked like a butt. You blinked as you watched Levi return with a mop and a bucket of sudsy water, You bent down with a paper towel to pick up the majority of the puree before Levi scrubbed the wood floors of your farmhouse style kitchen. Hange turned an excused herself to go to the bathroom as you both cleaned the mess. You felt a surge of panic rise in your chest when you realized that you would be alone with Levi.

You swallowed nervously as you eyed his feet that were much too close to your face, he wore a pair of plain white socks, so at least it wouldn't be his usual steel toed combat boots. He noticed your uneasy expression and the way you put some pep in your step in picking up the mess. As you dropped the soiled paper towels into the trash bin you took note of Levi's outfit. He wore a pair of stylish ripped jeans that were a lighter wash they hung loosely off his hips. You noted a worn black belt kept his pants secured and for a moment the thought of Levi's pants falling off his hips made you smirk. You allowed your eyes to pass over his midsection that was clad in a plain white t-shirt and layered with a thin yellow plaid over-shirt. You smiled, you knew for a fact that he had thrifted all of these clothes and probably altered them himself. He had gotten better at sewing over the years. He finished mopping up the mess, you quickly averted your gaze when he looked up at you. You pretended to be busy gathering the ingredients, pulling out a jar full of flour as Levi stooped to pick up the bucket and dump the small amount of dirty water into the sink. He leaned against the porcelain farm sink as he ran hot water to clean the large sink. You could feel his eyes on your back as you reached into the pantry, sliding the barn door back so you could grab your apron. You fumbled with the ties on the back of your neck, feeling self conscious under Levi's hot gaze. You finally managed to tie off the strings, you heard Levi shut the water off and head off down the hallway to put the bucket and mop away. Just after Levi left you heard the toilet flush and Hange returned, stretching she sighed, a content smile on her face.

"Why were you gone so long?" you asked, almost immediately regretting your question.

"Took the fattest shit in my whole life, I wouldn't go in there if I was you." Hange chuckled as you watched her grab your mother's apron and effortlessly tie it around her waist and neck. You cringed, "At least light a candle or something." you murmured as you continued setting out ingredients.

"Oh don't worry I sprayed lots of air freshener." Hange said nodding proudly as she began preparing the wet ingredients. Levi stalked back into the kitchen and plopped down on the opposite side of the island in one of the barstools. Lazily he pulled out his phone and connected to the speaker in your kitchen. He scrolled through his phone for a minute before he finally picked a song, you immediately recognized the band Cigarettes After Sex. You fell into an easy pace with Hange as you both moved through the kitchen, after you made the dough you let Hange set about baking the cookies. Meanwhile you began to make a simple vegetable soup that you could put in thermoses and take to the game.

Also you knew that it made Erwin happy when you brought him dinner after his games. You set out your cutting board and began chopping a carrot, your fingers curled into a bear claw as you moved the knife up and down. You slid the chopped carrot into the pot and then diced an onion, and some broccoli. You also took the liberty of chopping up a stalk of celery and adding a can of diced tomatoes. Finally you added some water and chicken broth before letting it heat up on the stove. By the time you'd finished the soup Hange has finished most of the cookies, all the while Levi had sat on his phone, occasionally throwing in some advice. You leaned against the counter and wiped your hands down your apron as you considered the spices you wanted to add to the soup. You reached for your phone and began responding to your messages. Hange dusted her hands off on her apron as well and came over to watch you on your phone, her head resting on your shoulder. You opened a snapchat from Eren, who was currently at the game, he sent you a winky face in response to your snap from earlier that day. You couldn't help the smile that spread across your face, Eren was undoubtedly cute, charming even. But you knew better than to jump on that train, he was a bit of a hot head and besides, Mikasa obviously had a major crush on him. Hange gasped when she saw the picture of Eren cheekily sticking his tongue out and the winky face emoji. She turned, gripping your shoulders in a vice, "Huh?! What the fuck is that? Eren Jaeger?!" Hange gasped as she shook you. Levi perked up slightly, interested in the sudden commotion.

"Wh-What? Oh god no Mikasa would have my head, he just snapchats like that, don't worry about it!" you said, flailing your arms in hopes of loosening Hange's death grip. Instead she tightened her grasp, "What a shame, you really should start seeing people, I'm getting worried for you." Hange said with a sigh as she let you go. You furrowed your brows, slightly offended by her words. "I... see people." the last words slipped past your lips barely above a whisper. Levi scoffed, rolling his eyes he stood abruptly and walked around the island. Both Hange and you widened your eyes as you watched him approach the cookies, he carefully selected one of the frosted ones and took a bite. You waited for him to finish chewing, he looked back at you, his gaze steady on the both of you. "Stay away from that fool, he's no good he'll only drag you down." Levi said with a shrug before padding off into your living room and dropping down onto your couch. Hange looked at you with wide eyes, her mouth slightly open, "What's gotten into him?" she whispered as you gently slid past her to check on your soup. You simply shrugged, a bit thrown off by Levi's words. Eren was your friend you liked spending time with him and you sure as well weren't about to stop because Levi told you to. You stirred your soup, pleased to see that it was finished, you set about filling the three thermoses that you had, meanwhile Hange was packaging the cookies. Levi was still on the couch, slumped down low enough that you could just see the top of his dark hair. You glanced at the clock, and then back at your phone, you had no idea where they were in the game, so you decided to give Eren a call to see where they were at. You called him over snapchat, the phone only ringing twice before he picked up. You began to pace the kitchen as you listened to Eren fumble with his phone.

"H-Hey (Y/n), what's up?" he said over the roar of the game.

"Oh nothing much I just finished making dinner and I was wondering what the game was looking like." you said brushing some hair off your face.

"Oh yeah yeah of course, we just got a touch down, and halftime just started." he said, his voice clearer now, he must have left the bleachers you thought to yourself.

"Perfect, I'll be there in 30, save me a seat?" you asked sweetly, a smile warming your features.

"Anything for you." his voice lowered in pitch and you couldn't help but blush a bit, you and Eren had always had good banter between the two of you but in the recent months you'd noticed a palpable tension arising. You giggled, brushing off his suggestive tone, "I'll see you soon Eren." you said, pulling the phone away from your ear and hanging up. Hange smirked at you as she pulled the apron off of herself. You noticed that Levi had sat up a bit on the couch, he was giving you major side eye. You smiled at Hange, deciding you'd ask her if she knew what Erwin planned to do after the game.

"So Hange, do you know if Erwin was having people over after the game?" you ask partially wanting to change the subject, and partially wanting to know if you could have an excuse to have Eren over. Hange shrugged, a thoughtful look passing over her sharp features, "I suppose so, not a lot though just Mike, Nanaba, Petra, Eld, maybe Oulou? Bah I couldn't say." she said shaking her head in frustration. You knew that Hange was a forgetful person so you weren't expecting much. Levi huffed from across the room, he noticed the gears turning in your head, the way your cheeks blushed slightly. You were surely planning something.

"Why do you ask?" Levi arched a thin brow at you as you turned to face him.

"Just wondering if that meant I could have some of my friends over." the truth, but you were hoping for more than just a friendly interaction. Levi noticed the way you bit your lip and your ears turned a bit pink. Levi had seen all he needed to see, he turned his attention back to his phone, disregarding you. He vaguely caught bits of your conversation with Hange, something about changing, and getting ready and then the two of you hurried upstairs to your room. You were only upstairs for fifteen minutes before you came back down, Hange wore a pair of ripped jeans and one of Erwin's football sweatshirts. You on the other hand wore a pair of black nike leggings, the fabric could almost be described as shiny because of how clean they were, you wore an emerald green crew neck, the sweater was clearly something you'd thrifted, it had a brown teddy bear in the middle. Levi couldn't help but scoff at the sight, you reminded him of a grandma. You tugged at your sweater a bit self conscious under Levi's scrutinizing gaze.

"I'll drive." Levi said, his tone clipped. Hange shrugged, a light in her eyes as she spun her own keychain on her index finger. Levi narrowed his eyes at the brunette, remembering all the times when they had fought about who got to drive. Luckily Hange wasn't in much of a fighting mood, so she simply shrugged and pocketed her keys. You swiped your own keychain off the counter and stuffed them into your small purse. You rocked on your heels as you waited for the older teens to gather themselves. Hange was slipping on her beat up tennis shoes, while Levi stooped down to pull on his Vans. You shifted impatiently on your nike airs, Levi squinted in disgust when he took in the appearance of your old nikes, they weren't very white anymore. He figured he'd find some excuse to berate you on this topic later. He finally stood up and made his way out the door before you and Hange without a word. You all piled into his old BMW, Hange in the front and you in the back.

Thankfully the rain had let up and the clouds had drifted on to leave the night sky clear, the moon illuminating the road as you drove. You gripped the edge of your leather seat anxiously, you didn't like Levi's driving, he drove 20 over the speed limit no matter what road you were on. He blared classic rock and other alternative music, which wasn't the problem, just you could never hear what other people were saying over the loud noise. Finally your car ride came to an end and before you knew it you were paying for tickets and making your way towards the bleachers. You pulled out a thermos and handed it to Hange, "Here this is for you to share, and take these too!" you shoved a baggie of cookies into her hands as well before slipping into a throng of people before they could say anything more to you. Eren had told you where to meet him Armin, and Mikasa. You found them loitering by the bottom of the bleachers, you came up behind Armin and pulled him into a hug from behind. He yelped in surprise and wriggled in your grasp.

"Hey guys" you said, your tone raising a bit in the presence of your friends.

"Hey (Y/n)! When did you get here?" Armin asked as he turned just enough to return your embrace.

"Oh just now." you said sweetly as you then moved to hug Mikasa, you skipped Eren though, feeling a bit awkward with Mikasa's heavy gaze hitting your back. But you were pleased to see the disappointment in his eyes when you skipped over him.

"How's the game going?" you asked lightly as you turned your attention to the empty field.

"Good, we're winning! Your brother is playing well!" Armin said as he pointed at the score board.

"Yeah, he took out one of the other teams defensive players." Mikasa said, nodding her head across the field to where a player was sat on the ground with trainers surrounding him. You raised an eyebrow, Erwin usually didn't do that much damage, he must've been pissed.

"Interesting, well do you guys want to head to our seats? Looks like they're getting ready to start." you asked, they nodded and the four of you climbed the cold bleachers. They led you to a pretty remote section, just off the side to the student section which was bustling with your loud classmates. You settled into your seat on the end, Armin seated next to you, Eren in the middle of Mikasa and Armin. You rubbed your hands together and blew a breath of hot air onto your palms. The game was about to start, the players fanning out and back into their positions. You spotted Erwin in the thick of all the players, he reached out and shook one of his team mates by his helmet. A smile easily slid on your lips as you watched your brother settle into the play. You loved your big brother and you were glad to so him succeed in what he loved. Just as the game was about to begin you felt your phone buzz in your pocket. You fumbled to answer it, worried about who could be calling you.

"Hey (Y/n) where did you run off to? I was hoping you'd sit with me, Levi is being awful!" you immediately recognized Hange's voice, and you felt for her you really did, but you were not in the mood to deal with Levi.

"Ew, I'm definitely not sitting with you if he's causing trouble." you joked, but your words held a semblance of truth. Hange groaned and then yelpd, the sound of her phone hitting the ground made you wince. Finally you heard her breathing again, guessing she had managed to recover her phone.

"Hurry please, in the back top right section, he's getting physical." Hange said, hanging up before you could argue. You noticed all of your friends were watching you with curious gazes.

"Want to go sit with Hange and Levi? We can hash out some plans for tonight?" you asked desperately not wanting to sit alone with Hange and Levi right now. Eren raised an eyebrow but nodded in agreement. You knew that was all you needed for Mikasa and Armin to agree as well. But it didn't escape you how Mikasa's eyes darkened at the mention of Levi. You vaguely recalled being hammered one night, laying on the ground with Eren, and you remembered someone tugging you to your feet. It was Levi, he was pulling you back towards your brother and his friends, but you wanted to stay with Mikasa and Eren. Mikasa had come to your rescue and surprisingly given Levi a solid punch to the jaw. He snarled but didn't move to defend himself, instead he had stalked off into the group of older kids. This memory reminded you that when Mikasa and Levi were in the same space they tended to bump heads. You felt slightly guilty knowing you were putting her in a bit of an awkward situation but at the same time you knew Levi would be uncomfortable too which would hopefully prevent him from bothering anyone. With everyone in agreement you all gathered your things and quickly climbed the bleachers to the mostly empty top right section. Sure enough you could see Levi with his arms crossed and a sour pout on his face. Hange's shoulders sagged with relief at the sight of your crew. You waved as you approached, a smile on your lips, you let Eren sit next to Levi and Mikasa next to Eren and then Armin on the end. Hange scooted over to make space between herself and Levi, which you eyed skeptically, it would've been easier for you to sit next to Armin, but you complied. You drew in on yourself, pressing your right side into Hange's left to avoid Levi. A memory flashed across your mind of you getting too close to Levi and him literally shoving you out of his space. You were not in a hurry to see if that had changed. Levi scowled at you, his cinder eyes catching your (e/c) ones momentarily before you averted your gaze back to the game. Hange threw an arm around you and drew you closer, her eyes analyzing the play that your team was about to make. Levi noticed the way the tension left your shoulders as Hange pulled you flush against her, giving Levi plenty of space. Instead of appreciating your respect of his personal space Levi only felt more annoyed. Just as he was finally managing to focus on the game you turned and leaned over to look around him.

"I'm feeling like watching a movie." you said, Eren also leaned forward and smiled.

"Same here, I brought some wine, we can watch a horror movie and get wine drunk." he said, you nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah I cleaned the basement the other day so you guys can go crazy upstairs and we'll stay downstairs." you said, this time directed at Hange. The brunette raised an eyebrow, "If that's what you want, Mike was going to bring his pong table and Nanaba is bringing some good games." Hange said, a skeptical look on her face.

"Maybe we'll come up after the movie?" you said, glancing at your friends for back up. They all nodded and then you all turned your eyes back to the game as the whistle blew shrilly. You noticed that your team had scored and you also took note of one of the opposing players gripping his ankle as he rolled in the grass. Trainers and coaches rushed over to aid the player as your brother fled the scene, his face grim as he went to join his team in a huddle. You sat forward with Hange as you watched one of the reffs storm over. You blinked as you watched the reff scold your brother and point towards the bench, the head coach quickly came to your brother's defense and fired back at the reff.

"Something's wrong, why is he being so aggressive tonight?" Hange asked, looking to you. All you could do was shrug and frown as you watched the reff storm back onto the field. You were so engrossed in the game that you forgot to mind Levi, who unlike you, was completely disinterested in the game. He noticed how close your knee was to his own and took advantage, he reached over and closed his fingers around your knee and squeezed. You yelped, at the pinch, a cow bite, one of your least favorite and dirtiest moves that Levi pulled on you. You glared at him as you rubbed the sides of your knee tenderly. Levi met your eyes and cocked his eyebrow, a false mask of innocence on his features. Hange spared the two of your worried glance, but ended up only feeling relieved that it wasn't her this time. You narrowed your eyes, a small warning to leave you alone, one that you were certain he would ignore. You turned back to the game, determined to watch the last half of the game. Levi turned to also face the field, but still kept an eye out for you, it wasn't often you would let him pull something like that. You cheered when a point was scored by Erwin, Levi watched as you rose to your feet with Hange and the other dorks, all screaming your heads off. Levi took this moment to shuffle over a few inches, so when you sat down you would be slightly closer. As predicted you sat down and as soon as you felt his thigh brush against your own. Levi reached into his pocket and pulled out his juul to take a hit, he lifted the juul to his lips and felt pleased to know he had at least half of your attention as you watched out of the corner of your eye. He blew the vapor out of his nose and wordlessly offered you the juul. You eyed it for a moment before taking it , you coughed when you inhaled too much, the smoke billowing out of your mouth. Hange frowned when she saw you fall into a coughing fit.

"Erwin is going to kill you if you get his sister addicted to nicotine." Hange scolded as she watched Levi take another hit.

"He'll get over it." Levi grunted as he stood and stretched, the game was ending and he wanted to beat the traffic. You looked up, still fighting back some coughs, Eren was laughing at you and Mikasa had a small smile, Armin looked sympathetic.

"You leaving?" you asked, your voice gravely from coughing up your lungs. Levi nodded and shoved his hands in his front pockets.

"Back to my house?" it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah wanna come?" he asked, you looked to Hange who shrugged.

"Yeah good idea you two go on ahead and set up things for the party." Hange agreed, quickly turning her attention back to the last minutes of the game. Levi scoffed and then lumbered down the bleachers, not waiting for you as you checked with your friends.

"Go, we need to drop by the liquor store anyway for some Smirnoff's." Eren dismissed with a wave of his hand and with that you followed Levi down the stairs.


	2. Rum and Coke

You followed Levi down the stairs, keeping a bit of distance between you as to not invade his space and risk a sharp pinch or shove. Yeah no definitely not getting any closer, he'd demonstrated his distaste for your closeness early on in your relationship. Memories from when you were in 6th grade and Erwin and Levi were 8th graders flooded your mind. It had been the year that the pair became partners in crime, Erwin had Levi over frequently and you would often find yourself being chased around the house by the boys. One time in particular, your mother was out working and the boys were having a sleepover, not just the two of them but with two other friends of Erwin's as well,Nile and Mike were there as well. You remembered being in the kitchen when they emerged from the basement after a particularly long video game session, and asking them innocently if you could join. Erwin scoffed and told you to go back to your room or else. You responded with: "make me." and they did. Levi was closest and you recalled being dragged across the kitchen floor and up the stairs, giving you an awful carpet burn, and then being promptly tossed into your room. The boys laughed at the display as Mike slammed your door behind you and held the knob so you couldn't escape. You recalled the embarrassment burning on your cheeks as you inspected the rug burn on your side and back, and to your horror you realized that meant your shirt had ridden up and all those boys had seen your stomach. You shook your head at the memory, despite all the torment somehow you couldn't bring yourself to despise Levi, his presence was simultaneously unnerving and calming to a degree.

By the time you had pulled yourself out of your reverie you and Levi were already in the parking lot, you still remained a couple steps behind Levi who was focused on spinning his keys around his index finger.

"On a scale of one to ten how fucked up do you think shitty-glasses is going to get tonight?" Levi broke the silence, sparing you a glance over his shoulder. Slightly taken aback by his initiation of conversation you took a moment to collect your thoughts before responding.

"Hm, probably a solid six, she seemed pretty excited." you said thoughtfully as Levi unlocked his car and climbed into the front. A moment of hesitation passed over you before opening the back passenger side door, you had never ridden in a car alone with Levi before.

"What are you doing?" he asked, gripping the headrest of the passenger seat as he turned to look back at you.

"Oh, um I wasn't sure if you wanted me to.." you said awkwardly as you sat halfway in the car.

"Sit up front." he said, his grey eyes cold and unnerving as ever. You nodded quickly climbing into the front before he changed his mind. He turned his keys in the ignition and the car roared to life. You couldn't help but notice that his hand remained on the back of your headrest as he turned around to check behind the vehicle before backing out. You leaned back in the seat as you lifted your hips to get into your back pocket for your phone. Levi finally removed his hand to shift the gear into drive. You had to admit, he had nice hands, his fingernails were usually painted black, but sometimes he would switch up the color even if they would end up chipped in a couple days. He also always made sure to wear rings on at least one of his hands. You let your eyes wander up his right forearm which happened to have his one and only tattoo on it, a snake that wrapped around his forearm, head beginning at his wrist and ending at his elbow. Levi pretended not to notice the way your gaze lingered on his tattoo, he wondered if you liked tattoos, he knew you liked piercings, your ears were covered with them. 

He flexed his arm as he shifted his gear when he pulled out of the campus. His music as always was too loud to allow conversation so you just leaned back and closed your eyes. You were just starting to relax when your nose was assaulted by the strong odor of a fruity scent. Cracking an eye open you looked over to see the remains of Levi's smoke blow out his cracked window. Once again he held his juul out to you. You pursed your lips in thought, no you usually didn't vape, but this was one of the rare moments that Levi seemed to acknowledge your existence so you accepted. You inhaled the vapor with less of a struggle this time and managed to blow the smoke out of your own window. Levi didn't hold his hand out for his juul back so you awkwardly dangled the e cigarette over the cup holders with a loose grip.

"Just set it on my lap." Levi grunted as he focused on shifting gears again. You blinked, momentarily taken aback before you dropped the device onto his lap. He nodded his thanks, keeping his silver eyes on the road. Levi was driving a bit slower than he normally does, because of how dark the night had become, suddenly his phone rang without a second thought he answered the phone.

"Hello...Yeah, I can send you the location once I get there.... just bring the chasers.....yep." and with that he hung up, your curious (e/c) eyes watched him as he tightened his grip on the wheel. He hated how you stared,

"You've got a staring problem." he mumbled as he turned into your drive way. You huffed, crossing your arms across your chest as you leaned back, making a point to face the road.

"I do not...Who were you on the phone with?" you asked as he pulled into his usual space.

"Not that it's any of your business but...Petra." he said as he turned the keys, the car sputtered off, plunging your drive way into darkness.

"I think it becomes my business when you invite people over to my house." you replied cooly, gathering your purse and keys before climbing out into the dark. You walked briskly to the front door and quickly unlocked it, kicking off the vans and nudging them on the small rug that you'd had for years. Levi closed the door behind him before doing the same as you, pausing after he finished removing his shoes to watch you disappear around the corner into the kitchen. He frowned after you when he noticed your purse on the ground under neath the hooks where it usually hung. Sometimes you really were hopeless, he stooped down to rehang the bag. He heard you washing dishes and cupboards opening and closing. Finally you peeked your head around the corner to see if he was there.

"Well, are you going to come in?" you asked, eyebrows pinching as you watched him spare a quick glance over his shoulder.

"Sorry I was too busy cleaning up after you." he hissed as he padded into the kitchen and dropped onto a stool. You frowned at him as you wiped your hands on a hand towel,  
"I'm going to go change." you stated as you dropped the towel onto the counter carelessly. Levi wrinkled his nose in disgust at the sight of the dirty towel, he watched you stalk up the stairs, your phone in your face. Just as he sat down the door bell rang, with a small sigh he stood up and answered the door. Petra Ral stood on the other side, two grocery bags in her hands, being the gentleman he was Levi took one of the bags as she walked in.

"Oh thank you Levi!" she smiled up at him, being one of the few people shorter than he was. He grunted and led her into the kitchen where they began setting out the chasers. You tensed, pausing at the sound of Petra Ral and Levi exchanging pleasantries in your kitchen. It wasn't that you hated Petra, you just weren't in the same circle. She was nice enough, being only a year older than you, she was a junior this year, one of the most popular ones at that. The few interactions the both of you had shared were painfully awkward and clumsy to say the least. She often ended up at the same gatherings as you and often tried to talk to you. You finished pulling on the pair of fuzzy socks and gathered your courage. Walking slowly down the stairs you found Levi and Petra in the kitchen setting out solo cups and handles of liquor alongside the chasers. They hadn't seen you yet, too busy unpacking the goods to notice you at the bottom of the stairs. Just when you thought you'd escape unscathed, your phone rang as you stood at the top of the basement stairs. The feeling of two pairs of eyes burned a hole into your back as you answered.

"Erwin hey! Boy am I glad to hear from you! How was the game?" you asked, loud enough for the pair to hear as you turned around and made a beeline for the front door.

"Uhhhh, I can call back if you were waiting to hear from Erwin..." Jean said awkwardly.

"No no things are fine here!" you said loudly as you slammed the front door shut behind you.

"okay...." the poor boy said quietly.

"Hey sorry about that, Levi was in the kitchen and he's in a shitty mood, doesn't want me having people over or some bull shit." you said, popping a hip out to prop yourself against the side of the house.

"Uh, isn't the party at your house?" Jean asked.

"Yeah but Erwin is in charge and since Erwin isn't here my mom put Levi in charge so here we are." you sighed as you knocked your head back against the siding.

"Oh, you want to come around mine then? We could just drink some of my mom's wine and watch The Office or some shit." Jean purposed hopefully. You shook your head, even though he couldn't see it.

"Can't. I already told Mikasa, Armin, and Eren they could come over." you responded.

"Oh gottcha. Well what time should I come over then?" he asked eagerly.

"Now, please come over now before Levi and Petra start making out in my kitchen." you begged, a small chuckle escaping your lips. He laughed with you, a clear image of his smile in your mind at the sound of his hearty laugh.

"Okay I'll be there in 5." he said, and with that you hung up. You hurried back inside, the cold was beginning to seep into your bones. Levi and Petra remained in the kitchen, Petra was dumping a bag of chex mix into a large bowl as you entered the room. Levi was leaned against the counter, his hips facing Petra as they spoke about school.

"-Yeah I know! The SAT was a lot harder than I expected, I'm glad you helped me study for it!" she spoke in a sweet tone. Levi just grunted and turned to face you,

"Who was that?" he asked bluntly. You licked your lips and blinked rapidly.

"Wha-what do you mean? It was Erwin." you said, your brows pinching together as you squirmed under Levi's acidic gaze.

"Erwin my ass, he never calls you." he huffed, turning his attention back to Petra.

"He's my brother of course he calls me." you snapped, turning to get a cup out of the cupboard for some water.

"Yeah right." he said, unamused.

"Besides why do you want to know who's calling me?" you asked, a triumphant grin curling onto your lips. Petra raised a brow and looked between you and Levi. Honestly this was the first time she had seen you both interact and she was very confused what the dynamic was here.

"I don't." he huffed, his own face screwing up in annoyance as he watched a smug expression settle onto your features.

"Good, then keep your head out of my ass." you said as you walked back into the front of the house, just as Levi noticed a pair of headlights sweeping up the drive. His face fell further into a scowl at the sight of a second pair close behind the first. Before he could go ask you who was here the front door opened to reveal Jean. Peering around Jean, Levi could recognize the other trio of brats from earlier walking into the house. You welcomed them inside and after they had removed their shoes, ushered them through the front room, where they all stood in the kitchen as you scurried to collect the drinks and snacks they brought.

"So what movie?" you asked as Mikasa began working on opening the wine.

"I was thinking Halloween." Armin said, those bright baby blues sparkling even in the fluorescent lighting.

"Sounds good." you answered as you began pouring wine into red solo cups and handing them out. Levi watched with hard eyes as you finished off the bottle, handing the last cup to Jean.

"What are you drinking?" Jean asked as you tossed the bottle into the recycling.

"Oh I'm going to have a rum and coke." you said as you moved to open the handle of Captain Morgan . Jean nodded, pleased with your answer. As you busied yourself with mixing your drink you motioned for the bunch to retreat into the basement, to which they happily obliged. Once all the kids were out of ear shot Levi whirled on you.

"Too fucking many brat." he snarled, Petra winced and pretended to busy herself in the living room.

"My fucking house old man." you hissed back as you shoved past him with your drink. Levi's gaze burned holes into your back as you retreated to the basement and out of his sight. Once Petra was sure you were gone she returned to the kitchen.

"I mean as long as they stay in the basement I'm sure everything will be fine." she said soothingly, her hand daring to rest on his elbow. His gaze was fixed on the door to the stairs, the lights shut off and the sound of chatter floated up the stairs. He turned to face Petra now, having to slightly look down, not something he got to do often.

"You're right, let's finish getting ready." he said, trying his best to return the girl's soft gaze. Maybe if he played this right he could get laid. The thought crossed his mind as he watched Petra turn back to filling up snack bowls. Nah, not tonight, not when all those shits were in the house. He let his mind wander back to the crowd and remembered the sight of Mikasa, they didn't get along, not at all. In fact just the sight of her reminded him of what a solid uppercut she had. The memory of her fist connecting with his jaw as he tried to pull you away from those brats made his cheek pulse. He opened and closed his mouth subconsciously at the memory. Just as he was about to continue wiping down the counters, the front door opened and in came Nanaba and Hange. Longtime best friends, closely followed by Moblit, a junior who was starry-eyed for Hange despite her relationship with Erwin. Mike and Erwin would come together from the game, and hopefully that would be it. Just when Levi was about to warn Hange about all the brats in the basement, you came running up the stairs. Your phone was pressed to your ear as you made a dash for the front door. Levi barely heard your conversation but what he did hear was more than enough.

"-NO Erwin please God no, they're so mean, I swear to God if you bring those brutes here I'll..." you cut yourself off as you slammed the front door closed again.

"Woah, someone is on edge." Nanaba ribbed Hange as the pair came into the kitchen, again with Moblit close behind, just happy to be in Hange's presence. Hange was focused on the door with narrowed eyes, her glasses had been pushed back on top of her head. Petra was talking to Moblit, the pair being the same age seemed to get along quite well, Nanaba favored being by Hange, but unlike the redhead, her attention was fixed on the basement door. A loud thump from the basement made Levi's blood pressure spike.

"Who all is down there?" Nanaba asked, gesturing towards the basement as another yelp carried up the stairs closely followed by yet another thump.

"There's four people down there." Petra answered, a sweet smile glued onto her face.

"Not people, messy inconsiderate brats." Levi hissed as he moved to go give those idiots a stern talking to. Before he could make it very far Hange stuck an arm out and caught him, her head still turned to the front door where you stood with your back to the growing crowd, speaking in a hushed tone. He paused to take in the rigidness of your posture, your white knuckled grip on the phone was a bit concerning.

"I'll go see what's up." Hange said before dropping her arm and turning to approach you. The first attempt was futile, you waved her off and took a few steps away from her. But when Hange reached out and caught your shoulder, you turned and looked up at her with wide, almost angry eyes. He watched you hang up and then exchange a few hushed words with Hange. Your shoulder sagged and you nodded as Hange spoke. Probably yet another one of your tantrums, they had been happening more frequently in the past year or so. Erwin mentioned how you suddenly would lash out at him or other family members, although your mother seemed to be untouched as of the last time he had heard. Finally Levi watched you disappear down the stairs, Hange slid up alongside him as he allowed the chatter to fall into the back of his mind.

"Reiner is coming, along with Bertolt." she spoke like the problem was obvious. But Levi had no clue why this was such a big issue. You had gotten along with the boys in the past, even having Reiner over a couple times. He would remember because he took it as an opportunity to embarrass you. He turned and furrowed his brows at the brunette. She sighed, rolling her eyes,

"Her ex boyfriend, and if Bertolt is coming I'm almost certain Annie will be here too." Hange said, Levi blinked and held up his open palm to halt Hange's impeding rant.

"I'm sorry her what now?" he asked his eyes scanning Hange's face in search for any signs of bull shit.

"How did you not know?" she asked incredulously as she turned to face him full on. He mirrored her stance, their hips propped against the counter as they engaged in conversation. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, eyes dropping to the floor. Reiner Braun, a fucking air head football player, a meathead, a jock, an absolute asshole. Hange watched with raised brows as Levi stewed in this new information, she had known that deep down Levi cared about you in some degree. She also knew that you cared for Levi, even if all the boy did was torment you. The sound of the front door prevent Hange from speaking, the excitement of Erwin's arrival taking precedence. She peeked around the corner into the front room where the boys were kicking off shoes to add to the pile.

"You boys can put your stuff down stairs, to my understanding that's where all the other kids are." Erwin's voice sounded strained as he spoke to the younger boys. Eld, Gunther, Oluo, and Mike crowded into the kitchen, whooping and cheering. Erwin trailed in behind Bertolt and Reiner who veered towards the basement, Levi's nose wrinkled when he watched Bertolt duck his head as the pair descended into the basement. Moments later the noise levels skyrocketed in the basement. The kitchen quieted momentarily at the sound of yelling, finally after about two minutes of yelling Jean exploded out of the basement with his face completely red, you followed close on his heels. Both of you stopped dead in your tracks at the sight of all the older kids staring at you. Your own face flushed as you grabbed Jean's hand and tugged him towards the stairs that lead to the second floor, aka where your room was. Hange again discreetly grabbed Levi's wrist and sent him a pointed look.

"Don't, I'm sure Erwin will find time to fix this." Hange whispered, not doing much to calm Levi's fiery emotions. Erwin sighed loudly and dropped his plastic bag on the counter before quickly climbing the stairs. The chatter slowly resumed, especially once the kids from the basement emerged for more drinks. Reiner and Bertoldt were clearly being shunned, the only brat that was speaking to them was Armin, who still seemed hesitant. Finally Eld figured out the bluetooth speaker and connected to the device, filling the house with music and the din of friendly banter. But all Levi could think about was what was occurring upstairs. You had been up there with Erwin and Jean for about fifteen minutes. He would know, he'd been watching the green numbers on the microwave slowly change as Petra practically clung to his bicep. Finally Levi watched Jean creep down the stairs, his shoulders weren't nearly as taught as they had been when he went up stairs, Armin made a beeline to the boy and immediately the pair descended down stairs, Mikasa and Eren followed close behind, while Reiner and Bertolt hung back dejectedly. As soon as the group was gone the front door opened, revealing a short blonde girl with cold blue eyes, a brunette with wide brown eyes and a lanky almost awkward stance, a large bag of food in her grasp. Behind the tall girl was a bald boy with a wide grin on his lips, his hazel eyes were busy taking in the scenery. 

They blindly followed the blond in and began setting up the food. Levi narrowed his eyes at the kids as they made their way to Reiner and Bertoldt. The blond stayed with the pair while the other two quickly ducked into the basement. Way too fucking many kids were here right now. Definitely not one of the biggest parties that had been thrown here but definitely approaching Levi's comfort thresholds. He glanced at Hange to see her occupied with Oluo, who was making a stink about some science shit. Now was his chance, when Petra released her death grip on him he slid away, and ran up the stairs two at a time. He paused outside of your door, it was hard to hear what was going inside the room due to the loudness of the crowd downstairs. Finally he brought his fist up to the door and gently knocked. This was stupid, he should go back down stairs and let you sort yourself out.

"Come in." Erwin. Levi slowly opened the door, you were perched on your bed, eyes not leaving Erwin who couldn't look less bothered.

"Ah Levi thank God you're here, tell (Y/n) that she is being unreasonable." Erwin said, dropping his hand into his lap as he spun in your desk chair. Levi stood awkwardly, unsure of where to sit, the bed or that awful circle chair in the corner of your room? The appropriate choice would be the chair, but he chose the bed. He dropped onto the end of the bed without looking at you, he felt you shift as you turned to prop yourself up against the head board.

"No, Levi tell Erwin he's the unreasonable one." you hissed, your eyes still trained on your big brother. Levi sighed, a wave of relief crashed over him and he allowed his shoulders to sag a bit.

"Is that really what you two have been doing up here all this time?" he asked, a small chuckle escaping his lips. Erwin smiled at the way Levi relaxed, his arms sliding backwards to prop himself up as he stretched his torso out. You curled further in on yourself as you watched Levi take up most of the space on your bed.

"You're missing your party, in your house." Levi scoffed as he let his gaze flit between the two of you.

"So now it's my house?" you whispered, a small smile curving onto your lips as you glanced up at Levi. Erwin let out a booming laugh as he watched his best friend and his little sister finally get along. Erwin stood up and walked over to you, resting a hand heavily on your shoulder,

"Don't worry, I'm sure that since you and Jean are finally getting serious Reiner will respect your space. But if not...." he trailed off and squeezed your shoulder. Levi furrowed his brow at those words, 'since you and Jean are finally getting serious' very concerning.

"Hold up, Jean?" Levi sneered, his noes wrinkling in disgust. You mimicked his face, screwing your eyes shut and poking your tongue out.

"Yeah. And what about it?" you jeered playfully, honestly Levi was just relieved that you weren't a sobbing wreck. So he decided to let this one slide. He shook his head, dark locks falling in front of his smokey eyes. Erwin squeezed your shoulder again, "Let's just go back down stairs." he said, turning to leave. Levi slid off the bed, and followed Erwin out the door, pausing over the threshold to watch you slide off the bed. You brushed past him, careful not to touch him. Levi pulled your door closed and followed you down the stairs. When you emerged into the kitchen you were surprised to find it nearly empty. Hange was the only person that remained, a beer bottle hanging loosely from her fingers. Erwin pulled her into his side, his head tilting down to kiss the crown of her head. Hange leaned into his touch and your heart squeezed painfully in your chest. You could still feel Levi's presence behind you so you made a point of stepping away from the stairs in case you were in his way.

"Gross." Levi clicked his tongue before sliding past you. A nervous chuckle escaped your lips as Levi stalked into the living room where the upperclassmen were setting up Cards Against Humanity.

"Hey." you whirled around, the sight of Jean's chest filled your vision.

"Hey." you breathed back, a relieved sigh escaped your lips as you let Jean grip your shoulders and steer you towards the basement.

"I'm sorry things started off rocky. It was all Eren's fault anyway." Jean said, his arm thrown casually over your shoulder as you paused at the top of the stairs.

"It's okay. In a way I liked watching Eren go bonkers on them." You said leaning into his warmth. He squeezed your shoulder and scoffed.

"Yeah he's a real hothead." Jean said, his eyes wandered over to Hange and Erwin, who quickly averted their eyes when he glanced their way.

"How about another drink?" Jean said, slipping away from you and walking back towards the kitchen. You nodded and followed him back into the quiet kitchen, where your brother and Hange were cleaning up some spillage. Jean grabbed a Smirnoff ice from the cooler on the ground and popped the cap off before passing it to you. You smiled and accepted the cold drink, the sweet alcohol slid easily down your throat, a warm feeling settling into your gut. And suddenly Jean looked like one of those ancient greek gods or some shit. Yes sadly you were a light weight, and normally you preferred to not drink at these functions. You liked watching your peers do stupid things while they were drunk, not the other way around.

The great thing about your house was the open floor plan. Levi purposefully sat on the side of your couch that faced the kitchen, he was aware of Petra's thigh pressing against his. And the stiff arm of the couch digging into his ribs as he tried to hide his deck of cards. His eyes narrowed at the sight of you cracking open yet another Smirnoff. He shifted as he watched Hange grab your cheeks and you laughed loudly, leaning into her grasp. Jean and Erwin were watching you both with amused expressions as Hange finally released your face and switched to squeezing your sides.

"Your turn Levi." Petra giggled, those sweet hazel eyes watching him expectantly. He forced himself to turn his attention back onto the game at hand, throwing a random card into the pile. Satisfied, Petra picked up the pile of cards and shuffled them, Levi was only half listening as she began reading the cards, causing the group to break out in boisterous laughter. But Levi's eyes had wandered back into the kitchen, now you were sat on the counter, gross. His eyes narrowed at the sight of Jean standing right next to you, his hand resting on your thigh as he and Hange engaged in playful banter. Erwin seemed unbothered, his pupils relaxed as he flicked his eyes between Hange and Jean as their volume increased.

"Noooo you're wrong for that!" Hange yelled, the game paused in favor of listening to the heated conversation.

"What noooo, it's perfectly logical to put peanut butter on a hamburger!" Jean matched Hange's energy, his hand squeezing your thigh tighter as he and Hange continued to bicker.

"Jean" you pawed at his jean jacket in hopes of getting his attention. You frowned as he continued to debate with Hange, this would go on forever. You looked to Erwin, who only half heartedly pulled Hange back.

"Hange why don't we go sit with our friends and let them go to theirs." Erwin said, Hange sighed and shot Jean a look that said: I'm not finished with you yet, and then set off into the living room. You hopped off the counter and tugged Jean out of the kitchen and down the stairs. Levi winced when Hange plopped down on the arm of the couch. He clutched his cards close to his chest as Hange draped an arm across the back of the couch and leaned back. Erwin was settling on the floor beneath the both of them. Hange gripped his wrist and tugged, Levi snarled and pulled his cards closer, "What the fuck? Mind your businesses shitty glasses." he knew that it was near impossible to restrain Hange when she was tipsy, let alone drunk. She was unusually strong.

"I don't wanna see your cards I wanna talk to you! In private" she hissed the last part. The group was too busy playing the game to notice their trivial spat.

"What? No." he snapped, still resisting the brunette as she got onto her feet and attempted to pull him onto his feet.

"It's important please Levi." she whimpered, almost pathetically. He spared a glance to Erwin who remained unconcerned, not even looking back as the young woman hauled him onto his feet. Petra yelped at the unexpected loss of Levi's support, she caught herself and looked up a momentary flash of annoyance crossing her open face.

"Sorry I'll return him short-hiccup-ly" Hange apologized, as she pulled Levi through the kitchen and into the front room. Levi finally managed to free his wrist from her iron grip and glared at Hange.

"What?"

"Are you going to ask Petra out?" her question caught him off guard, his scowl dropping, his mouth opening to form a tiny 'o'.

"Again, what?" he hissed, Hange had a tendency to meddle with Levi's life. He should have known better, it had been too long between Hange's meddling.

"Are you-"

"No... I don't know." Levi threw his hands up in defeat. Hange's glasses caught the light, casting an eerie shadow across her face.

"I don't want to hear it." Levi sighed, holding a hand up to stop her rant before it began.

"Oh? Good because I wasn't going to tell you just yet." she giggled, slipping past him and skipping back into the living room and snatched his spot.

"Levi go make sure that their hands are above the blankets down there!" Erwin called, holding up his beer bottle. Levi grumbled to himself as he lumbered loudly down the stairs, and knocking loudly. A chorus of groans startled him and then the drone of the movie stopped abruptly.

"What?" your voice called into the silence. Levi pushed the door open and scowled at the sight. You had a nice basement, with a nice tv and a large L shaped leather couch. Said couch was crowded, starting on the end closest to him was innocent Armin, close by him was Eren, then Mikasa, (who were obviously holding hands). Followed by Reiner, Bertoldt, Annie, Connie, and Sasha, a bag of chips crunched loudly somewhere. Levi stalked so that he could stand in front of the tv and to his horror he saw you sliding off of Jean's lap and wedging yourself between him and Connie. As if he was stupid enough to miss this detail, "Keep it PG down here." he scolded, grey eyes locked on you as he spoke.

"Sorry dad." you slurred, holding your hands up as you leaned on Jean. Connie sniggered and ribbed you as he pushed you further onto Jean. Sasha giggled and chomped loudly on a potato chip. Levi glared at you as you held your hands up in mock innocence. He scoffed, casting one last glance at your legs, they were tangled with Jeans. As he turned to leave, out of the corner of his eye he saw Jean haul you onto his lap, your sweatshirt riding up. He turned around to see you leaning back into Jean and resting your head on his. The movie began to play again and the kids all settled back in to watch the movie. Levi's mood soured, his grey eyes narrowing as he stalked loudly back up the stairs. Fuck, for some reason seeing you all over horse face left a bad taste in his mouth. He hated the way his hands spread over the exposed skin of your stomach and how you basked in his doting. He dropped back onto the sofa with a huff, picking up his cards again, he grimaced when he realized that the cards were damp and sticky from sitting on the alcohol covered table top.

"Disgusting, who spilled?" he snapped, tossing the cards back onto the table. Gunther laughed and took a swig of his screwdriver.

"I think that one was Hange." he said, pointing a finger at Hange who was seated on Erwin's lap. Her brown eyes widened at the accusation.

"Was not! I think it was Eld!" she said nodding her head furiously. Eld said nothing in his defense, as he took a swig of his beer.

"No it was probably Nanaba with her butterfingers!" Mike said, ribbing Nanaba who was trying to take a sip of her drink, the sudden jarring motion sloshing the liquid all across her white shirt.

"Mike!" She yelped, standing up and pulling the wet fabric off her chest. Mike also stood up, holding his hands up in surrender.

"I didn't mean-"

"Ugh. Just help me clean it up please" she huffed, stalking out of the room and towards the bathroom. Mike paused for a moment, all the guys nodded and gestured wildly for him to follow.

"Now's your chance big man!" Hange whisper yelled across the room as she held up her cup in a cheers motion. Mike took big long strides after the young woman, his cheeks already blushing from the attention.

"Attaboy" Oluo jeered after him, all the other guys laughed and made comments on the odd pair.

"I hope they get together! Nanaba really liked Mike." Petra sighed as she shuffled her cards in her lap.

"Hm" Levi hummed in response as she settled back into his side.

"So, where those guys downstairs keeping it PG" she asked, mimicking Erwin's tone.

"No of course not, and I'm sure as hell they aren't now either." He sighed, leaning forward to grab his rum and coke. Petra nodded, Levi noticed how her face seemed a bit lax, her pupils dilated, and cheeks flushed. She was a bit tipsy, her hand landed on his thigh as she threw her head back when she laughed at something Gunther said. He tensed at her feather light touch, but didn't oppose the contact. Petra was nice, a good girl, she didn't party often and when she did she was usually the sober person present. Levi fished into his pocket and pulled out his vape, taking a hit and turning his head away from Petra's strawberry blond head, instead blowing the vapor into Hange's face. Her nostrils flared and her brown eyes grew so wide he thought they might pop out of her head.

"Now listen here short stack." Hange hiss as she turned to pull Levi into a choke hold. Predicable. Levi easily dodged her slow drunken attack, leaning both him and Petra out of Hange's grasp. Petra squealed when Levi threw his arm across her shoulders and ducked his head against her to avoid Hange. The brunette snorted when she saw Levi tighten his grip on the younger girl and lean further away from her, he was a crafty one, she'd give him that. Levi raised a thin brow in challenge and was satisfied when Hange opted to get up and stalk into the kitchen. Petra practically melted into his side as she sprawled out on the couch, swinging her legs up onto the sofa and leaning back into his side. He looked down at her upturned face and allowed his lips to curve up ever so slightly, a soft dopey grin on her face.Hm, this wasn't so bad he could get used to this.


	3. Red Wine

Levi and Petra became the most popular couple at Rose High by that following Thursday.

"I bet Petra had the dude absolutely whipped." some random kid joked in the back of the dark classroom.

"Dude's totally getting his brains screwed out." his friend whispered back. You rolled your eyes as you ran your hands over the crinkled pages of your notebook. A small gasp slipped past your lips when you pulled your hand back and stared at the pink ink that had smeared onto your palm. The page didn't look much better either. You ripped the soiled page out of the notebook and crumpled up the paper. Levi and Petra had completely and effortlessly stolen you and Jean's thunder this week. Of course Levi had to enter a relationship the same exact time as you and steal all the clout at school. Prick, you squeezed the ball of paper tightly before tossing it over Connie and Sasha's heads, the paper skimmed the rim of the basket and dropped pathetically onto the floor. Sasha and Connie loudly sniggered, casting you playful glances as you groaned, hauling yourself onto your feet to pick up the trash.

"Oh come on (Y/n) why so mopey!" Connie asked snagging you by your wrist and holding you captive.

"Yeah why so blue?" Sasha asked around a mouthful of fruit snacks. Your arm went limp as you let Connie hold your wrist.

"I'm just tired of all the gossip going around." you sighed, rubbing your free hand down the side of your face. Sasha paused her chewing, the wrapper of her snack crinkling loudly. Connie gripped your wrist tighter and looked up at your with wide eyes.

"What gossip? We promise we won't tell anyone." Connie said, plastering a false look of sincerity over his impish features. Sasha nodded vigorously behind him, her brown hair swaying across her face. You rolled your eyes but still dropped down onto your knees so the teacher would be less likely to see you not doing your work.

"Ok fine I'll tell you, but only if you guys hang out with me this weekend." you said pointing a finger between the two of them. Their faces dropped momentarily, their eyes meeting and engaging in a silent fight, with lots of grunting and gesturing. Finally Connie turned back to face you, recomposed he cleared his throat.

"We agree to your terms." he said formally, with a slow nod.

"Ok...." you said suddenly regretting your choice of them as your weekend entertainment.

"Yeah but we got to get food before we hang." Sasha butted in, Connie face palmed but gestured for you to go on. You sighed but continued anyways.

"I guess... I don't know, I guess that I feel a little...forgotten? Left out maybe? I don't fucking know." You pulled your hand free from Connie and buried your face in them as you felt the blush blossom. Heat spread like wild fire up your neck and down from your ears at your confession.

"Ohhhh I think I get it!" Connie said, leaning down to retake your wrist he pulled one hand off your face by gripping your forearm.

"You do?" you squeaked, peaking up at him as he beamed down at you.

"For sure! You feel like you're being left out because now Levi has a girlfriend too so whenever they all hang out you're the only single one!" He said, pointing a finger at your chest as he spoke. You couldn't believe it, was he joking? He had to be, he was literally there when Jean asked you out that next morning after the movie.

"Say sike right now bro." you said shaking your head as you yanked your arm back.

"What? Did I get it right?" he asked as he scanned your face with excitement.

"No, no you got it totally wrong!" you growled as you turned to leave.

"NO (Y/n) please don't go! Tell us what's wrong!" Sasha begged, as you stood to leave. You sighed but decided that it would be rude for you to leave them hanging.

"Okay I know it's petty but I think that I'm upset because Levi and Petra are-"

"Oh oh oh oh! I got it! You wanted to date Levi!" Connie said nodding with a wide smile. You face palmed and shook your head.

"No! No I do not want to date that jerk! I want people to pay attention to Jean and I. Cause yeah news flash, we're dating now." you said lifting your hands up in defeat as you confessed your true feelings. Connie and Sasha both let out sighs of realization.

"Not as juicy as I thought it was going to be honestly." Sasha said as she leaned back in her chair.

"Agreed, but we can help you with that for sure, everyone will know by the end of the week. Guaranteed you guys will be talk of the school!" Connie said, poking your collar bone. You winced at the intrusion, leaning away from the impish boy.

"I mean I don't want everyone in my business but some recognition would be nice." you muttered as you guarded yourself. Connie held up a hand to silence you, Sasha beamed at you over his shoulder.

"Say no more! We have it taken care of." he waved you off and you begrudgingly returned to your seat. You frowned at your empty paper and back up at your black laptop screen. Your features softened at the sight of your scowl, ew you kind of looked like Levi when you made that face. Ew god no, never again. You closed your laptop and opened your chemistry textbook, your face rested heavily in your palm as you began jotting down notes. You hardly even glanced up when the door banged open and Hange sauntered in with a box of bunsen burners that needed cleaning.

"Oh Hange dear! Could you run an errand for me please?" your teacher called out to Hange as she placed the box down on a back table. Hange walked briskly up to her desk and leaned on the stack of papers that needed grading.

"What do you need Mrs. Hanson?" Hange asked.

"I need you to take these papers down to the art wing, it seems I accidentally grabbed Mr. Patterson's mail!" she said sweetly, passing Hange a stack of papers.

"Oh of course, can I bring a buddy?" Hange asked as she smoothed the papers down. Mrs. Hanson waved her hand dismissively as she dove back into her work. Hange looked over at you just as you averted your gaze, you had too much work to do you wouldn't let her suck you into...

"Come on (Y/n) I've got some errands to run and Mrs. Hanson wants me to bring you with me!" she said proudly as she slammed your textbook shut. You dropped your pen and stood up,

"Fine." you said as you pushed your chair in. Connie and Sasha watched the two of you leave the class room, jealous of your excuse to leave the stuffy room. You walked through the empty hallways, your footsteps echoing off the cavernous walls. Rose High was known for it's unique gothic architecture, with vaulted ceilings, and stone walls. It almost reminded you of Hogwarts, but on a much smaller scale. Hange walked with her papers clutched closely to her chest, while you favored stuffing your hands into the pockets of your worn jean jacket.

"Mind if we stop by coach Burns' room? I'd like to see Erwin." she said, as she gestured towards the history wing, which was on the opposite end of the building.

"Uh I guess not, as long as we don't get in trouble." you agreed reluctantly as you turned down another corridor. Hange smiled wickedly at you, the dim lighting still somehow catching on her glasses.

"Great." she snagged your wrist and broke out into a light jog towards the history wing. As you made your ways through the halls you noticed how the doors went from being shut tightly, to being wide open. You see the history teachers were all coaches and tended to wander during their allotted class periods. Often they would assign one or two assignments and then escape into the hall to chat with their coworkers. Seeing as how it was now about half way through the period they were all gathered in a circle talking about the game that was to take place the next evening. You and Hange slipped by unnoticed and into Mr. Burns' room, his room was decorated with pictures of all the teams that he had coached, and of other historical figures. The class was rowdy when you entered, a paper ball was thrown and you barely managed to dodge the assault. Ugh freshman, the younger students were rather rambunctious, a couple of boys were playing video games while a gaggle of girls laughed loudly in the corner. You spotted your brother in the back of the room with his head ducked low as he busied himself with his work. His earbuds were buried deep in his ears and his pencil scratched furiously against the paper in front of him. Hange threw her arms around him and pulled out his earbuds.

"Heyyyy" she said in a singsong voice. Erwin turned and smiled up at her as she loosened her grip.

"What brings you down here?" he asked his eyes flitting to you momentarily before returning to his girlfriend.

"Oh we were on our way to drop off these papers at Mr. Patterson's." she said waving the papers in front of his face. He leaned back to get a better look at her and smiled sweetly at her.

"Sounds like you're in the wrong part of the building." he said raising a skeptical brow as he shot you both a stern look.

"We just wanted to drop by and ask if you wanted to join us!" Hange said with a pout. Your eyes widened at her words, three was a crowd and you were already off task.

"We were?" you squeaked, ducking when a red pen was thrown in your direction, it hit the wall and stuck there, right on Adolf Hitler's nose. A roar of laughter exploded from a group of jocky freshman boys as the red ink seeped onto the poster. Erwin shot them a glare and they tried to cover their laughs.

"I could stand to get out of here for a bit." He mumbled as he gathered his things and hoisted his bag onto his shoulder. Hange squealed, jumping up and down with success.

"Great let's go!" she said shoving her fist into the air as the three of you left the room. Burns waved to you as you left before returning to the heated conversation. The three of you walked through the hallways almost completely uninterrupted until you turned into the art wing. The hallway was similar to the history hall, all the doors were open and music poured out of several of them. In the hall students were hunched over a sculpture as they tried to glue random objects together.

"Oi, what are you three doing down here?" A familiar voice echoed through the hall. Your heart leapt into your throat as you slowly turned to see Levi peeking his head out of the pottery class room, a dirty apron hung around his neck and a towel was held tightly in his hands.

"Oh Levi! What are the odds!" Hange said as she turned to address him.

"Slim." Levi said as he stepped out of the class room.

"How's your week been Levi? Haven't seen much of you lately." Erwin said, a knowing smirk spreading across his face. Hange nodded enthusiastically as she leaned on Erwin with her armful of papers. Levi rolled his eyes and tossed the towel over his shoulder as he took in the three of you.

"Fine. I was meaning to ask what you had planned for the weekend actually." Levi said as he leaned against the wall. Erwin smiled and pulled Hange closer.

"Well if you weren't so busy with your new boo thing, I would invite you to Mike's Halloween party but...." he feigned disappointment as Hange giggled at Levi's furrowed brows.

"Rude." he mumbled as he crossed his arms.

"Yeah your boo thing." Hange doubled over with laughter, her bangs covering her eyes.

"Actually what are you up to this weekend (Y/n)?" Erwin asked, ignoring his girlfriend who was now trying to poke Levi's ribs.

"Oh well I was going to hang out with Jean and I think that Connie was having a party." you said looking up at your brother.

"Come with us." he said without hesitation, Hange and Levi stilled at his words. Erwin wasn't necessarily against inviting you to functions that he attended, but he wasn't usually the one to actually invite you if that makes sense. Hange was usually the one to invite you and your buddies to the upperclassmen's gatherings. You eyed him suspiciously,

"Can I bring Jean? And Annie?" you asked with furrowed brows.

"Sure, definitely bring Annie, Bertolt is still simping for her anyway." he said casually as Hange and Levi looked between the two of you.

"Great we'll be there." you said.

"Great" Erwin said.

"No way." Levi said his jaw clenched as he watched the interaction. Hange gasped,

"Huhhhhh? Don't be so mean Levi!" She socked the shorter male in the shoulder, Levi barely even flinched.

"It's rude to invite people to parties you aren't hosting." Levi stated, glaring daggers at both Erwin and you.

"Jeez, if you don't want me there just say so Levi." you scoffed as you crossed your arms.

"Fine, I don't want you there (Y/n)." Levi hissed, leaning forward in an almost childish way.

"Look, I'm sure Mike won't mind if she comes." Hange chuckled nervously, she was used to Levi's sour mood, but for some reason he was being extra bitter this afternoon. Quite frankly though Hange thought that Levi was being unreasonable, childish, as he usually was when it came to you.

"If she goes don't expect me to show." Levi said it like a threat. Erwin's bushy brows pinched together as he frowned at his best friend.

"Fine. Sorry (Y/n), maybe next time." Erwin said with a sigh. You just crossed your arms and looked up to the clock mounted on the wall.

"Hange we had better get back, there's only 10 minutes left." You said, brushing off the hurt of being excluded.

"Uh r-right. Here Levi can you give this to Mr. Patterson? Great thanks!" She shoved the papers into his chest before snagging your wrist again and the two of you made a break for the science wing. Once the both of you disappeared around the corner Erwin turned and glared at Levi.

"Dude, what gives?" Erwin asked exasperated.

"Oh I'm sorry that I just want to go to one fucking party without having to worry about your sister's sorry ass." he hissed, his grey eyes filled with outrage.

"What are you talking about?" Erwin scoffed, his head cocking at Levi's sudden outburst.

"Every fucking time we go to a party with your sister I'm always the one who ends up taking care of her, and for once I'd like to only have to worry about myself." Levi spat, craning his neck upwards to scowl at Erwin.

"I-" Erwin didn't know what to say. So instead he turned and stalked off, was Levi insinuating that he couldn't take care of his own sister? Was that how other people saw him at parties? Too engrossed in spending time with his friends to care for his wasted sister? Levi clicked his tongue as he watched the towering blonde round the corner. Bingo, you weren't coming he could count this afternoon as a success. He sighed, turning on his heel to finish the job that Hange and you had started.

\---------------------------

That evening you were surprised when Levi didn't come over for dinner. Not even Hange showed up, making the house feel empty. You frowned, tapping your pencil against your temple as you stared at the math worksheet in front of you. Your elbows resting on the marble counter, the cutting board next to you covered with diced vegetables. You were in the middle of making dinner for yourself and your brother, who seemed to be avoiding you.

"Erwin can you give me a hand please?" You called, frustration laced in your tone as you tried to dump the veggies into the pot of soup. Your shoulders sagged with relief when you heard his door open and his heavy foot steps on the wooden stairs.

"What is it?" He asked, his blue eyes barely hiding his annoyance.

"I was just wondering if you could help me with my math or maybe finish dinner?" You asked sweetly.

"Sure." He sighed as he fell onto one of the barstools and began studying your homework. You turned back to the chicken soup, stirring the concoction.

"Pencil." he said simply, holding his hand up. You pulled the pencil out from behind your ear and tossed it over to Erwin. The kitchen remained mostly silent, save for the sound of the spoon clanging against the pot and the scratch of the pencil on your paper as Erwin worked on your math.

"Why did nobody come over?" You asked, leaning against the counter with your back to the soup.

"I just wanted it to be us tonight." He said without looking up, his blond hair falling into his eyes. You pursed your lips, he needed a hair cut.

"Oh." was all you could muster as you thought about how short you should cut his hair.

"Oh? You don't want to spend some quality time with your big brother?" he asked, his eyes flicking up from the paper to see you with your hand on your chin as you studied him.

"No that's not it, just concerned I guess."

"About?"

"How long your hair has gotten." you said, not missing a beat as you opened your kitchen's junk drawer and pulling out the pair of scissors that you usually used to cut Erwin's hair. His blue eyes widened a bit, caught off guard by your answer and actions alike.

"I-I guess it has gotten longer." He said, running a hand through his hair subconsciously. You nodded, eyes wide as you opened and closed the scissors.

"I'll go grab a towel."

"Finish dinner first, I don't want my hair to get in the food." Erwin said as he returned his attention to your homework. You sighed, setting the metal scissors down on the counter, replacing them with the spoon. Luckily the soup was almost finished, so you just had to dish it out and store the leftovers before you could get to work on Erwin's hair. You buzzed about the kitchen, cleaning up as Erwin rummaged through your bag looking for your calculator.

"Ok, ready?" you asked, holding up the ragged old towel as Erwin sat back up.

"Is my hair really that bad?" he asked his lips morphing into a frown.

"No, I just want to cut something." you said innocently as you raked your fingers through his blond locks. He flinched when your fingers caught on a knot.

"Just don't make me have to shave my head." he said as he let you wrap the towel around his shoulders.

"Just pull your chair back so the hair doesn't get on the counter." you said, kicking the legs of his chair. He pushed the chair back, shifting as you grabbed a spray bottle to dampen his hair. You ran the brush through his hair, gathering a portion of it between two fingers to examine the split ends. Wordlessly you brought the scissors up and expertly cut the dead ends off, only about an inch, all around his head. You ruffled his hair as you reached for the clipper that you used for a close cut. After you were satisfied you ran your hands through his hair and slapped him on the back.

"All good." you said as you admired your work.He stood up, towering over you, his face seemed to sag with a strange sadness.

"Do you think...." he trailed off as you cocked your head to the side, waiting for him to finish.

"Do I think what?" you asked, waving your hand to encourage him to go on.

"Do you think that I am a bad brother?" His voice cracked as he looked down at your innocent face. Your eyes widened, shocked at his suddenly very serious tone.

"What? God no, why do you think that?" you asked, folding the towel and placing it on the stool.

"I don't know, I just worry that you feel...neglected." you blink as you look at him, waiting for him to yell: SIKE.

"I don't feel neglected." you mumbled as you turned to get the broom. He groaned, following you, obviously not satisfied with your answer.

"Be honest, am I a bad brother? I need to know."

"Why would you say that? Who put that thought in your stupid blonde head huh?" you asked as you swiped the broom from the closet and stormed back into the kitchen.

"Levi." He said simply as he watched you begin to sweep the floor.

"Why on earth would you even listen to him? It's not like he's got any siblings, he doesn't know what it's like." you said, anger beginning to boil over as you watched Erwin shuffle out of your peripheral vision.

"He said that he's the one that always ends up taking care of you at parties and that got me thinking..." he ran a huge hand down the side of his face as he watched you stoop to sweep the hair into the dust pan.

"Quite being stupid, seriously it's not a good look on you." You said without looking up from your task.

"So you don't think I am a bad brother?" he asked, watching as the tension in your shoulders became impossibly tighter.

"No, but you want to know what I do think?" you asked with a heavy sigh as you stood to toss the hair in the trash. He nodded, his eyes icier than they usual as he met your own intense gaze.

"I think that Levi is being a bad friend. I think that you need to take a minute and really think about what that asshole has done for you all these years. I'm worried about you Erwin. You do crazy things for that psycho, I think you need to focus on you for once." You snapped, dumping the pan into the trash. Erwin blinked, taken aback by your harsh criticism on his choice of friends.

"(Y/n), you know how he is. He takes patience, I would be a bad friend to abandon him. Really I thought you would know better." Erwin scolded as he ran a hand through his freshly cut hair.

"I know how he is Erwin!" you threw your hands up in defeat. Erwin frowned, his bushy brows pinched close together as he watched you cover your eyes with your hand.

"I know Erwin, I know because I don't have the patience for him." you mumbled as you bit your lip. Erwin felt his heart tear in two in this moment. He realized that he was being selfish, he had put himself before his sister, his baby sister who depended on him. He chose Levi over you countless times, ignoring the way that his friend had treated you. He decided that he would be more thoughtful when it came down to the two of you. He loved you both, and he wanted nothing more than for the two of you to get along. But if his friendship with Levi was causing you pain, then he would at least stop having him over at all hours of the day. It was the least he could do.

__

It was Friday, and Levi was anxious to get to Mike's party. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for the cashier to finish bagging his liquor. He hadn't spoken to Erwin or Hange since he blew up in the hallway, usually they were the ones to initiate contact. But Hange hadn't even made fun of him in history, and Erwin sat with Mike instead of him during calculus. Not that Levi usually read this much into his friends actions, but he couldn't help it. He frowned at his lock screen of his phone as he waited for the cashier to finish running his card, no notifications. Not even a text from Hange asking him why he wasn't at the game. Something was up, he nodded at the cashier as he took his card and the bags before exiting the shady store. He pulled up Mike's contact, he almost called him before remembering that he was playing in the game currently. Instead he pulled up Nanaba's contact and rang her.

"Levi! What's up?" she answered after three rings, the cheer of the crowd made it evident that she was at the game.

"I was wondering how much time is left in the game." he stated more than asked. Nanaba fumbled with her phone, Levi winced at the sound of her hands covering the speakers in a failed attempt to muffle her conversation.

"-Hange please come! I won't know that to do with myself if he brings Petra." Nanaba begged, her hands not doing a very good job of distorting her words. He just rolled his eyes and shifted the paper bag on his hip as he thumbed through his keys.

"The game has about 10 minutes, you can head to.... STOP!" she yelled, Levi dropped his phone in surprise and cursed. By the time he had managed to get the phone back to his ear he could hear Hange and Nanaba arguing.

"-Nanaba give me the damn phone!"

"-No, call him yourself!" Levi cleared his throat, contemplating on just hanging up. Finally the phone settled and he knew that Hange had come out victorious.

"Levi, you listen to me." Hange snarled, catching him off guard as he settled into the drivers seat. He waited, the only sound was Hange's labored breathing.

"You owe Erwin an apology." Levi's delicate brow arched as he allowed Hange to stew.

"You done yet?" he asked after a moment of silence. She must have ran off to the bathroom.

"No, you also owe (Y/n) an apology." Levi scoffed, turning his key in the ignition and starting his car.

"I don't owe that little shit anything." he growled as he sandwiched his phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"See that's where you're wrong. You have been so mean to her and a simple "Hey (Y/n) sorry for being shitty." would suffice I'm sure." she scoffed, he heard a toilet flush somewhere in the background.

"Look Hange, we can talk about this later I'm driving right now." he grunted when he heard the line go dead. She hung up on him, what a bitch. Levi pulled into Mike's driveway and turned his car off, again Mike's house was on the same road as yours, secluded and big. Bigger than your house even, his parents were out of the country on business, perfect opportunity for a party. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, feeling a bit lame being the first one here. His phone buzzed, he looked down to see a text from Petra.

Petra: I've got the key, be there in 10.

Levi: See you soon.

Levi bounced his knee impatiently as he sat in the dark of his car.He knew that what he had said the day prior had hurt Erwin's feelings, he also knew that Erwin had thick skin. So clearly he had struck a nerve, something that didn't happen often in their friendship. Maybe Hange was right, maybe for once in his life he should admit he was in the wrong. Pulling out his phone once more he scrolled through his snapchat, tapping through the mindless stories of his peers. He paused on your story, a picture taken in your basement, of your feet thrown over Jean's lap, the T.V with some stupid Scooby Doo movie in the background. He frowned at the sight, he doubted that your mom was home, and Erwin definitely wasn't home, meaning you were left unsupervised with that ugly boy with the horse face. He definitely wasn't going to apologize to Erwin now, he had been right, he was a shitty big brother. Couldn't he see that Jean was no good for his baby sister? He scoffed, tapping the image to move on to the next story, however you had one last picture on your story. The image was taken of your face, nose scrunched as you smiled widely as Jean kissed your cheek, a smile on his lips. The photo was simple, only one filter covering the image and a couple sparkles here and there. Wow, gross. He closed snapchat after that, having made up his mind to not apologize to Erwin until he set you straight.


	4. Chamomile Tea

Levi wasn't surprised to see that Erwin and Hange did not in fact make an appearance at Mike's party. The party turned out to be much bigger than he anticipated, even freshman showed up. Petra was social, dragging him with her as she bounced around the house, easily conversing with the other party goers. Levi licked his lips as he brought his red solo cup back up to his mouth for another sip. In that moment that dipshit Eren Jaeger brushed past him, jostling him and causing a few drops of his drink to land on his stark white hoodie. His grey eyes locked on the brunette who held his hands up as he apologized profusely. The red kool aid that he had used to mix in his drink already staining. 

Petra remained deathly still, as did Gunther as they waited for his reaction. Levi scoffed, pushing past Eren and stalked towards the front door, meaning to go remove the stain with his tide pen he kept in his car. Eren sighed with relief as he watched the raven haired male retreat. Petra groaned, slapping Eren's shoulder before following Levi out of the house. She found him standing by his car, the trunk popped as he rummaged through his bag of miscellaneous items that he kept in case of emergencies. 

Petra kept her distance as she watched him pull the soiled sweat shirt over his head, the t-shirt he wore underneath riding up as well, revealing his creamy abdomen. The moon was bright above, casting ominous shadows across Mike's wooded yard. Petra shifted uncomfortably as she watched Levi dab at the red stain, his eyebrows pinched together in concentration. She wasn't sure what was wrong with Levi but he was more tense than usual. She figured that he wasn't in the mood for a party, but then again when was he not? Technically the two weren't exclusive, although that was Petra's end game. He sighed in frustration, setting the sweat shirt down in his trunk and throwing the pen in carelessly.

"Forget it. I'm going to Erwin's to properly remove this stain." he said as he shut the trunk. Petra blinked, wandering if that meant he wanted her to accompany him to the Smith residence.

"Oh...I'll go with you!" she said enthusiastically, turning to walk around the car to the passenger side. Levi shook his head and waved her off.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I'll just catch up with you tomorrow." he said as he climbed into the drivers seat and started the car. Petra felt the brief sting of rejection as she watched him pull out of the drive way. But then she remembered his promise to speak with her the next day and decided that this would be good enough for now. A small victory in this long fight for Levi's attention and affections.  
__

Levi drove slowly down the empty county road. This was a bad idea and he knew it, Erwin was mad at him, he was probably the last person he wanted to see. But still Levi turned into the long winding drive, sure to shut his head lights off. The house sat on a slight hill, the wrap around porch had been decorated with strings of bat lights, and various pumpkins and gourds. The olive green paint job always looked best in the fall with the colorful leaves of the forrest surrounding the house. He pulled into his usual spot under the basketball hoop, he shut off the engine and leaned onto the center counsel to peek into the large windows. 

Erwin's minivan was absent, as was Hange's CRV. The house was uncharacteristically dark, usually you would be in the kitchen cooking, or maybe seated in the living room with Hange working on homework. Erwin would usually spend his time in the dining room away from Hange's ranting while he tried to work. Levi climbed out of his seat and popped the trunk, pulling his sweatshirt from the trunk. He locked his car, pausing to flip through his key ring for the spare house key that Erwin had given to him quite some time ago. He hesitated before inserting the key into the lock. He turned it slowly, relieved to hear the lock click, he turned the knob and stepped cautiously into the dark entry way. He kicked off his shoes and frowned at the lack of shoes on the mat. He did recognize your filthy air force 1s but he didn't see Erwin's massive nikes or Hange's ancient chocos. 

He continued on into the kitchen, setting his keys down on the counter with a heavy sigh of defeat. He then refocused on the task at hand, setting off down the dark hall to the laundry room. He switched the light on and set to work on scrubbing the stain out. Levi sighed with relief as he studied his hard work. Just as he hung the sweat shirt up to dry he heard a creak from upstairs. He shut the door to the laundry room and slowly made his way down the dark hall. He rounded the corner, his gunmetal eyes widening a fraction when he met your own (e/c) eyes. He stopped before he could bump into you, your hands flew up and clutched at the small towel that was wrapped around you, your damp hair gathered in another towel. You screamed, staggering backwards, your back hitting the wall and the towel wrapped around your head falling off as you clutched at your chest.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" You managed to gasp out as you regulated your racing heart. Levi whipped his head to the side, favoring to look into the dark hall way then acknowledge the lack of clothing you wore. You sighed as you relaxed, turning to walk around Levi and down the hall to the laundry room. Levi turned his head sharply to look the opposite direction once again, a small dusting of pink covered his cheeks. He had never seen you so well... naked. He flinched when you brushed past him again, only this time you were wearing one of Erwin's hoodies, your fists balled up at the bottom to add length to the long sweat shirt.

"Don't look you perv!" you yelped, your face redder than a tomato as you shuffled past him. Levi brought his hand up and over his eyes, fighting a smirk.

"Don't flatter yourself, not like you've got much to look at." he scoffed, pleased to hear you gasp at the jab.

"What are you even doing here?" you sputtered, leaning against the wall and tugging the front of the sweatshirt down over the tops of your thighs.

"I had to remove a stain on my sweat shirt. Stupid Jeager kid spilled my drink." he grunted, groping blindly for the edge of the counter to lean against. You smiled at the sight, his hand finally landing on the counter, he pulled himself closer and leaned forward on his elbows.

"Why'd you come here? Why not just ask Mike to use his shit?" you asked relaxing a bit without his intense gaze on your vulnerable self.

"Have you smelled the guy? I doubt he knows where the detergent is kept in his house." Levi scoffed as he made himself comfortable, using his foot to pull a stool out to sit on.

"H-Have you eaten anything?" you asked after a moment.

"No, why does it matter?" he asked, his brows furrowing as he listened to you shift against the wall. You turned back down the hall way and dug around in the hamper, finally finding a pair of old boxers to tug on. You immediately felt better now that you were at least half way dressed.

"You want anything? I have leftovers." you offered, he felt your presence behind him as you walked to the fridge.

"Uh..." you were weird like that, always so tolerable of his teasing. You were beginning to take on more of Erwin's characteristics, although you weren't as much of a push over as he was just yet.

"Fine, I could eat." he said, spreading his fingers to see you pawing through the fridge, your back to him. He frowned at the sight of the forest green boxers that hung loosely off your hips. Not just any boxers, his boxers. The ones that he kept here along with a few other items of clothing since he basically lived here anyway. He quickly clenched his fingers together again as you turned around with your arms full of Chinese food containers.

"Oh, you can look now." you mumbled awkwardly as you dished out some fried rice and lo mein noodles into a dish to microwave. Levi drug his hand down his face, stopping over his mouth to cover his smirk as he took in your appearance. Damp hair, Erwin's sweat shirt no longer covering your lower half, the baggy boxers sagging enough to show your hip bones.

"Where'd you get those?" he asked, pointing a finger at the underwear. Your face turning red once again.

"Erwin's laundry, don't make it weird okay?" you said as you turned back to the task at hand.

"Those aren't Erwin's." Levi deadpanned, his eyes trained on your waist. You froze, your eyes widening at his words, if your face had been red before, it was now crimson.

"I-" what were you supposed to do? Say sorry? Go change? This was so awkward.

"Keep em. They look better on you anyway." he huffed in amusement as you finally turned to look at him.

"Gross." was all you said, your ears and neck flushed as you stuck the plate into the microwave. Levi smirked at the sight of you leaning up on your tiptoes, your hair had left a damp spot on Erwin's white sweatshirt. You set the timer for a minute, settling back onto your feet you began running your fingers through your damp hair to untangle the knots.

"So...you really left a party to get a stain out of your sweatshirt?" you asked, a small smile spreading across your face.

"Yeah, would've bugged me all night." he sighed, the mere thought of the red ugly stain making him cringe.

"Really? Was it a good party?" you pressed, a knowing smirk curling onto your face as you began to understand why he had really left.

"It was mediocre." Levi grunted, raising to his feet he moved to the cabinet with pots and pans. He pulled out the tea kettle and filled it water to boil. Leaning against the counter, Levi took the opportunity to check you out some more. Although you were still young, he still appreciated the insane amount that you had grown in the short time he had known you. 

He could remember you being a snotty brat, begging to be included. He remembered the time that you had gotten into a scrap with Nile, the older boy had easily won, much to all the boys amusement. He huffed at the memory, those were simpler times. He finished filling the kettle, he slid past you to set the pot on the stove, you flinched and he frowned. He lit the stove before turning to study your face, your nose was wrinkled at his closeness, eyes glued to his hands, your mouth was pressed into a firm line.

"Are you afraid of me?" he asked, genuinely curious in your answer. You blinked, your eyes turning to meet his steely gaze as he waited for an answer. Memories of Levi and Erwin's other buddies chasing you around the house, pulling your hair, or just being plain cruel to you.

"No...not really." you said, your voice cracking, of course you were weary around him given your past encounters, but you knew he wouldn't hurt you too bad.

"Then don't act like it. Makes me feel guilty." he scoffed, still standing uncharacteristically close to you. Relief flooded you when the sound of the microwave filled the kitchen. You pulled the food from the microwave and turned to grab a fork for Levi. You stuck the fork into the food and handed Levi the plate, he thanked you, but remained standing next to you. He twirled the noodles onto his fork and took a bite, his eyes still fixated on your own. He chewed the food slowly, his eyes shifted around the kitchen, and he frowned, where had Hange and Erwin ran off to?

"So, where did your idiot brother run off to then?" he asked casually, taking another bite of the noodles.

"Oh, um I think he and Hange went out to dinner and back to her place." you said, rubbing the back of your neck as you eyed a bottle of wine that you had been meaning to open.

"Hange's place?" Levi quirked a brow at the notion, her parents were almost as crazy as her, the house was basically a laboratory, filled with petri dishes and lab rats.

"Yeah, I guess her folks are out on some research trip." you shrugged, moving to open the bottle of red wine. Levi sank back onto the stool, his eyes turned downward as he focused on the food.

"Figures." he scoffed as he twirled another fork-full of noodles.

"Wine?" you asked, digging the opener into the cork. Levi shook his head and held up a hand, seeing as his mouth was full.

"Suite yourself." you muttered as you popped the cork from the bottle, you stretched up to grab a wine glass for yourself. Levi once again appreciated the way your ass looked in his underwear, cringing once he realized he was checking you out. Erwin would annihilate him if he found out that Levi was checking you out. He averted his gaze and quickly finished his noodles and rice, fighting off the thoughts of you and your perfect ass. You poured yourself a full glass and Levi raised a skeptical brow at the sight. 

Your shoulders visibly relaxed as you sipped the wine, a sigh escaping your lips as you wandered into the living room and sank onto the couch. Levi placed his dishes in the sink, turning his attention to the low whistle of the kettle. He turned the stove off and poured him self a cup of chamomile tea. He dunked the tea bag in the hot water as he pondered following you, or going into the guest room to pass out. He chose the former. Placing his cup down gently on the coaster, the glass clinking in the silence. You had your legs folded beneath you, arm resting on the arm of the couch holding your wine glass. 

Your eyes shifted over to sneak a glance at him, but quickly averted when you were met with steely grey eyes. You slid your legs out from underneath you and swung them over the couch, the room was eerily quiet, only the sound of your heart racing in your chest as you withered under Levi's intense gaze.

"See, that's what I mean." he scoffed, leaning to grab his cup.

"What?" you yelped at his words.

"You act all jittery around me." Levi grunted, gesturing towards the way you had pressed yourself tightly against the arm of the couch.

"To be fair, you did pick on me a lot a few years back, and still do." you whispered the last part, your cheeks flushed from the wine and the honesty behind your words.

"Tch" Levi clicked his tongue, his intense gaze finally falling from your face to your lap, where your hands were fiddling with the stem of the wine glass. You swallowed thickly before setting the glass down on the coffee table, not caring enough to find a coaster. Levi frowned at the sight, leaning over, his hand landing on the couch beside your thigh as he reached to set your glass on the nearest coaster. You sank deeper into the leather, your heart racing when he didn't move his hand, his eyes flicked back onto you as he slowly brought his other hand to rest on the arm of the couch. Caging you in, he remained seated on the sofa, his thigh pressing against yours. You licked your lips as you stared into his cold eyes.

"Wha-"

"I don't want you to be scared of me anymore." he cut you off, his eyes suddenly much softer.

"It's okay really Levi, I promise." you whimpered as he shifted his weight again, his hand lifted off the sofa and fell on your upper thigh, causing your heart to skip a beat. You looked down, your damp hair covering your eyes, cheeks flaring back up into a crimson blush. His head tilted to the side as he studied your reaction.

"Hey, look at me." he murmured, his hand squeezing to get your attention. You slowly lifted your chin and met his eyes, he sighed eyes soft as he studied your flustered face.

"I-Levi what are you doing?" you stuttered, his breath fanned over your face as he lowered his gaze to your lips.

"What do you think I'm doing?" he whispered as he leaned in, his hand sliding up from your thigh to disappear beneath the large hoodie. You allowed your own eyes to drift down to his lips as he neared you. His hands were cold and you flinched as he squeezed your side, you licked your lips, gathering the courage to close the gap. You sat up straighter, tilting your head to the right as you brushed the tip of your nose with Levi's. He let out a shaky breath, you could already taste the chamomile on his mouth, it was unbelievably enticing. 

You'd never felt this intense urge before, not that wasn't the word. Lust. You timidly pressed your lips to his, your eyes screwed shut, all your senses overwhelmed with this intimate moment. Just as quickly as you had taken his lips with you own you pulled back, a loud smack filling the room as your lips parted. Levi followed you as you pulled away, his arm around your waist suddenly pulling you onto his lap as he relaxed back into the couch, now you sat perched over him, both of his hands holding your hips. He raised a brow at you as you splayed your hands across his chest, not missing the rapid beating of his heart.

"Your heart's beating really fast." you stated, a coy smirk spreading across your lips as you leaned in to nuzzle against his pale neck. Levi ran his hands up your sides, one wandering up your back beneath your hoodie, he paused not exactly shocked to find that you wore no bra. You turned, once again brushing your nose with his, but this time Levi was the one to capture your lips in a searing kiss. His tongue brushed against your bottom lip and you gladly opened your mouth wider for him. A sigh escaped your chest as you tasted the chamomile on his tongue, your own tongue brushing against his. You barely registered his hand on your jaw, little lone his other hand that tugged at the base of your hair on the back of your head. Your own hands gripped the front of his shirt for dear life as you pressed yourself down onto him. Finally you pulled back, the need for a full breath of oxygen overcoming your desire. Levi pressed his forehead against yours as you both inhaled deep lungfuls of air. His hand slid down your neck, leaving a trail of goosebumps in his wake, his hand finally settled over your heart, fingers splayed across your collar bones.

"Your heart is also beating fast." he mused, grey eyes glinting mischievously as you blushed, his hands still cold against your burning skin.

"And you have cold hands." you snapped back, bringing your own hand to rest on top of Levi's. His other hand returned to your waist, toying with the hem of his boxers.

"Sorry." he muttered, releasing the hem so that it fell loosely over your hips once more, a small smirk on his lips as he watched them hang off your hips, relishing in the bare skin he could see. You grunted, leaning down to rest your head on his chest. The sound of his heart beating making you smile fondly. Just as Levi was moving to wrap his arms around you, you turned and grabbed your wine, taking a long sip, eyes trained on Levi. His gaze darkened at the sight of the liquid sliding down your throat as you swallowed. 

He reached up and took the glass from your hands before returning it to its place on the coffee table. You pursed your lips as you watched him grip your hips tightly, suddenly he rolled you over, your back hitting the sofa with a soft thud. Your eyes widened as you looked up at Levi's stony face, his grey eyes shining in the dim moonlight that gleamed through the large windows. He was so beautiful, your breath caught in your throat as he leaned down to take your mouth in his once more, this time he kissed you slowly. His tongue lapping at yours, savoring the lingering taste of wine. You reciprocated his motions, your hands resting on his sides as he slowly sank down on top of you, his weight oddly comforting. When he pulled away a string of saliva connecting the two of you, a smile spread easily across your face as you admired Levi's delicate features. He furrowed his brows in confusion at your wide grin.

"What?" he whispered, sinking his face into the crook between your neck and shoulder, deeply inhaling your scent. You giggled, his breath tickling you.

"Nothing, just...I never anticipated..." you trailed off as you felt him stiffen above you.

"Huh?" he pulled back to examine your face as you spoke, a brow raised, unsure of the meaning behind your words.

"I just never thought you wanted to be my friend. I thought you barely tolerated my existence." you chuckled nervously, shifting your hips against his. He grunted, his lips were drawn into a thin line as he thought of what to say.

"You have... always been important to me." he finally settled on those words in hopes of calming your anxieties and insecurities.

"Oh? Well I guess that you are kinda important to me too." you smirked, enjoying the slight blush that painted his pale cheeks, and the way his brows drew together.

"Tch." he clicked his tongue and leaned down, planting a kiss on the corner of your lips, another giggle as you turned in an attempt to kiss him. He ducked his head once more into the crook of your neck and began kissing the skin he could reach, impatiently tugging the hoodie down to expose your collarbone. You turned to give him better access, your eyes slipping shut as you basked in his attention.

The loud ring of your phone startled both of you, Levi's lips withdrawing with a string of saliva attached to your neck. You groaned, digging your phone out from between the cushions, blinking in shock at Eren's name on your screen. Levi remained glued to your side, his arms keeping you close.

"Eren?" your voice was thick, breaths still short and airy as you tried to compose yourself.

"(Y/n)! Thank god I got a hold of you! I need a place to crash for the night, I'm piss drunk and Mike's place is filled to the brim." his voice was light, a bit suggestive if you strained your ears. Levi grunted, reminded of his unfortunate encounter with the hot headed boy.

"I guess you can stay here, you bringing your friends too?" you sighed as you rolled off of Levi to stand up and compose yourself.

"Uh yeah if that's alright." Eren mumbled back, feeling the slight sting of your subtle rejection.

"Ok, do you... need me to come get you guys or..." you asked, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"Uh no, I think walking would do us some good, need to um sober up." he stuttered, your shoulders sagged with relief. You didn't have a car, or license meaning that Levi would have to drive you.

"Ok be safe." you said, hanging up quickly. Turning your attention back to Levi, who had an arm thrown over the back of the couch, legs spread wide.

"What was that about?" he asked, leaning forward to take a sip of his tea, grimacing when he realized too late that the liquid had grown cold. You smiled at him, moving to take a sip of your wine as well.

"I told Eren he and his buddies could crash here tonight." you sighed, turning to go unlock the front door so they could let themselves in.

"Why would you go and do that?" Levi's callous tone made your stomach twist into knots.

"I dunno, cause I'm nice like that I guess." you shrugged, dropping back down onto the couch and smiling coyly at him. Slowly your smile fell from your lips and you turned to face away from him.

"You've always been a pushover." Levi teased, a weak attempt at bringing your smile back. You huffed in amusement. But now that you'd had some time to think, you remembered Jean. You remembered him asking you to be his girlfriend. All though you hadn't given him a definite answer, you still felt the guilt creeping into your heart.

"I'm sorry about earlier, it was a mistake." you apologized, eyes averted. Levi scoffed, his hand landing heavily on the back of your head, gently he turned you to face him.

"I'm not." his voice was husky, grey eyes still clouded with lust. You shook your head and licked your lips.

"You should be. What about Petra?" you whimpered, his hand tightening its grip on the back of your head.

"I don't owe her anything, she's probably sleeping with Oluo right now." his words were dripping with venom, and you didn't miss the small glint of hurt in those grey irises. You flinched for Petra's sake, she wasn't a bad person, you knew that.

"But, it's not right Levi." you urged, your hand gripping his wrist and gently pulling it from behind your head. His eyebrows pinched together, rejection wasn't something that he was familiar with.

"I like you but, this is just bad timing." you chuckled darkly, taking his hand in your own you grazed your thumb over his knuckles.

"That's a load of shit." Levi hissed, turning his face away, his bangs hiding his gunmetal eyes.

"Look, all I'm saying is that you'll be graduating soon and I wouldn't want to slow you down or anything..." you mumbled, giving his hand a squeeze. Levi turned back to face you, a scowl glued to his face.

"I don't give a damn about any of that shit." he hissed, squeezing your hand back, his eyes filled with sincerity.

"But I do, I want you to get out of this shitty town and I want you to live." you didn't look sad, your eyes seemed to sparkle with admiration.

"God you sound like your brother." he quipped, turning away from your starry-eyed gaze.

"Maybe, but it's really for the best Levi." you sighed, sliding your hand out from under his with reluctance.

"So...what you're saying is that if I go to school and become successful then you'll let me tap that?" he smirked at you, that same sad glint in his eye, despite his teasing tone.

"Basically." you giggled at his words and smiled broadly at him. He scoffed, certain that this was one of those traits that you shared with your brother.

"Fine, I'd better get going before those brats show up." He sighed, standing up slowly, his hand slipping from your loose grasp.

"Ok, I'll see you around?" You beamed up at him, from your seat on the couch, and he nodded, grabbing his cup to place in the sink. You rose with him, sad to see him go, but you knew that it was for the best.

"Sure." Levi mumbled, gently setting his cup in the sink and turning to the foyer to pull his shoes on while you leaned against the counter. The house was still dark, making it hard to see Levi's face as he tugged on his vans and Erwin's jean jacket that was hanging on the hooks nearby.

"Drive safe." you called after him as he left, he didn't even glance back. But that was just Levi for you, so you stalked to the door and locked it. Leaning against the cool surface and sliding down to crouch on the floor, resting on your haunches. The sound of Levi's car starting filled the silence, and his head lights lit up the dark house for a moment as he pulled out of the drive way. If you listened closely you could hear his music, a small smile graced your lips, before the mental images of you and Levi filled your head.

God what were you thinking? Such an idiot, you should have never kissed him, now he wouldn't want to be your friend, probably thought you were a prude. You hit your head softly against the door once, then harder a second time, you had to be better, you couldn't be this impulsive in the future. With a heavy sigh you heaved yourself back onto your feet to pull out extra blankets for your guests. About ten minutes later the trio arrived, clearly a bit tipsy, Armin's cheeks were flushed and his eyes glazed over, clearly tired. Eren was propped up between Armin and Mikasa, his cheeks were also flushed and his eyes were unfocused. Mikasa was fine as always. You grabbed water bottles for them and helped them downstairs, where you had set up their pillows and blankets on the couch. Mikasa let out a tiny sigh of relief when she lied Eren down, rolling him onto his side. You helped Armin down, he was babbling incoherently, his hands holding tightly to your forearms.

"You're so pretty (Y/n), thank you so much for...for" His face screwed up and you whipped your head around, looking for something that he could throw up into. Your eyes settled on an old bowl that still had some popcorn kernels at the bottom. You leaned over and scooped up the bowl and held it under his chin, running your hand through his blond locks to pull the strands framing his face back. He leaned forward and heaved, only a small amount coming out. Mikasa clicked her tongue, holding the bottle of water up to Eren's lips.

"I'm sorry." she apologized as she opened Armin's bottle, once you were sure he was done you reached around to the side table for a tissue to wipe his face. You took the bottle from Mikasa and held it to his lips, he took it gratefully and took long swigs. You took the bowl and quickly dumped the contents into the toilet and flushed, you rinsed the bowl and brought it back out incase either of them needed it again. Mikasa was slouched against the couch, the boys having already fallen asleep, you set the bowl down an even amount between the two of them.

"You can sleep up stairs with me if you want." you offered, slowly standing and holding a hand out to help her up. She glanced at Eren and pursed her lips in thought.

"Fine." She relented, taking your hand she spared one last glance at the boys as you switched off the lights and went up stairs. You could feel her eyes on your ass as you climbed the stairs, and at first you weren't sure why, but then you remembered that you were wearing boxers. You tugged at the hem of your sweatshirt, a blush dusting your cheeks. Once you reached the main level of the house you walked around and switched off the kitchen lights and the lamps that were on in the living room. 

Mikasa waited patiently at the foot of the stairs, one hand on the rail, and a foot on the first step. Finally the room fell into darkness as you flicked off the last lamp and you groped your way to Mikasa. She huffed in amusement when your hands met her shoulder, she pulled you around the corner and up onto the stairs. You both climbed up the stairs, you giggling as she held on to you, her hand warm on your arm. You stumbled into your room and you fell onto your bed, a sigh leaving your lips. She fell next to you, the moon illuminating the second floor bedroom through the slit in your curtains.

"So you going to tell me whose underwear you're wearing?" She asked, a playful glint in her eyes. You huffed and shoved her shoulder as you rolled over to face her.

"They're Levi's." you admitted, relishing in the way her mouth opened in surprise.

"Gross why?" she asked, tugging the comforter up over the both of you.

"Well he showed up and I was only in a towel so I wasn't picky when I was digging through Erwin's laundry." You chuckled at the recent memory. She also let out an amused grunt, her steely eyes seemed to flash in the moonlight.

"Stupid shorty. I thought for sure he was going start a brawl at Mike's earlier." she scoffed, her distaste for Levi evident as she spoke.

"Why am I not surprised?" you rolled your eyes, knowing how explosive Eren could be when he was drunk and how easy Levi was to piss off.

"I wasn't surprised at all." Mikasa suddenly looked older, her eyes tired and her features pale in the small amount of moonlight in the room. You shifted, turning on your side to face her, she licked her lips and averted her eyes. You had always admired Mikasa's composure, she carried herself with such elegance and maturity. You only wished that she wouldn't try to shoulder the weight of the world alone, much like another Ackerman that you knew. She rolled over, her shoulders rigid, clearly she was done talking. With a sigh you tugged the comforter up over your shoulder and closed your eyes.

"Good night Mikasa."


	5. Iced Vanilla Latte

You were angry. Of course Levi had to go and stir the pot right before the holiday season. The time of year when he spent the most of his hours at your home. Even though he spent most of his time at your house throughout the whole year, this amount of time typically doubled through the months of October through December. The remaining weeks in October were the worst. You both expertly avoided one another, Petra and Levi continued to see each other exclusively. This turned out to be bittersweet for you, the pros were that Levi was busy trying to please Petra to spend too much time at your house. But also it stung to see him with her, even though you had no right to feel jealous. 

The two weeks after your kiss, you spent holed up in your room, your phone set on do not disturb. After binging Gossip Girls and all of the classic Disney movies, you finally decided that instead of focusing on romance, you would devote yourself to school. Thankfully you weren't the only person that favored school over social gatherings, you found yourself spending countless hours in the school's musty library with Armin. He was so easy to get along with, down to earth, kind, and most importantly, he was too shy to ask you about anything too personal. Today was one of those days, it was nearing the end of November, the trees had shed their leaves, bearing the naked bark. And the weather was constantly changing. Some days it would snow, others it would pour rain, but that was just the midwest for you. Glancing up from the textbook that had held your attention for the past two hours, your were pleased to see a flurry of fat snowflakes spiraling downwards. The window had frost creeping up from the corners, thank God, maybe the weather would finally settle and allow the snow to stick for once. You could feel Armin staring at you, his eyes piercing the back of your skull. a feeling you had become familiar with. Turning back to face him, he averted his eyes, a comforting pink creeping onto his cheeks with the embarrassment of being caught. 

"It's really coming down huh?" you tried to initiate some light small talk. 

"Yeah! Hopefully it will stick." Armin responded, a nervous chuckle slipping past his lips as he returned his attention back to his homework. You hummed, glancing back down at the yellowing pages of the old history textbook, a frown marring your features. 

"What's wrong? Need some help?" Armin asked, standing up from his seat and coming to stand behind you. 

"Oh, well I guess I'm just confused about this law." you pulled the response from your ass. Of course you understood Roe v. Wade, you just didn't want to tell Armin that you were ready to leave. He always made this face that reminded you of a puppy that just got drop kicked. 

"Roe v. Wade huh? I can help you with that no problem!" his baby blue eyes lit up, he pulled the nearest chair up to the table, the legs loudly scratching against the rickety library floors. 

"Great, thanks!" you tried to sound excited, and you tried even harder to focus on Armin's summary of Roe v. Wade. 

"Easy right?" Armin chirped, his finger hovering over the paragraph that explained the law. 

"You're right, I think that I just need a break. My brain feels fried." you moaned, folding your arms across the desk and burying your head in your arms. 

"Likewise." Armin agreed, dragging his chair closer to yours not very subtly. 

"Want to go grab a coffee?" you asked, barely lifting your head to glance at him. 

"Sure." he beamed, his innocent face completely lighting up. Your library had a small coffee shop nestled in the back, the cafe was run by students who had free periods. Granted the coffee wasn't the best, but it still did the job. You thanked the girl behind the counter as she passed you your steaming cup of dark liquid. Armin was rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet as he waited for his order, you busied yourself with mixing in sugar and some creamer. Finally the barista gave Armin his latte and the two of you meandered back to your corner. You slowly began packing your things, hoping that Armin would get the hint and you would be able to escape the stuffy library. Armin noticed, you closed the book with a sigh and began stuffing pens and other writing utensils into your small pencil case. 

"Ready to call it a day?" Armin asked his lips hovering over the steaming hot coffee. 

"Yeah, I told Hange that I would be ready to leave by the time she finished with Science Olympiad." you sighed, gathering the assortment of books that you had pulled from the shelves getting up to return them to their rightful places. 

"Oh gotcha, same time Thursday?" He asked hopefully, his light blue eyes meeting yours. You clicked your tongue and grimaced, shooting him an apologetic look. 

"Ah I would but my mom has Thursday off so I was going to have dinner with her." you explained, watching Armin get that kicked puppy look, that look always had a way of making your heart hurt. 

"Aw well have fun!" he waved you off, the sad look on his face replaced with a small forced smile. 

"Thanks Armin, I'll see you in Chem tomorrow." you smiled sweetly at him as you turned to leave. 

"Bye!" he waved goodbye to you as you pulled the large door open and slipped out. Sparing a glance at your watch you sighed, Hange should be done in the next 5 minutes. But knowing her she would take another 20 minutes to wrap up her Science Olympiad meeting. So you leisurely strolled down the empty stone corridor, your eyes trained on the large windows that lined the hallway and overlooked the courtyard. The library was on the second floor, which gave you a perfect view of the school grounds. The snow seemed to be falling faster now, the flakes were beginning to stick to the blades of grass, giving the lawn a patchy appearance. Hopefully Hange had remembered her snow scraper, surely the car would have a coating of frost on the windows by now. It would not be the first time that the two of you had to scrape ice from her windows using your credit cards or your school ids. 

You turned your attention back to the stony corridor, you had almost reached the stairs. You began your descent, a hand loosely gliding down the cold stone banister. Your mind drifted to thoughts of what Erwin's plans were for this evening, did he plan to eat dinner with you? Or would he run off with Hange as he had been doing for the past week or so? You had noticed that the pair had been spending more time alone as of late, and you couldn't blame them. Erwin was already committed to Notre Dame, a prestigious school known for football and extraordinary academics. Hange had recently been accepted into Princeton, one of the eight ivy league schools, and she was ecstatic. This however means that they will attending schools in different states. You knew that they planned to continue dating despite the distance, personally you were a tad skeptical of long distance relationships, but you knew that they were both mature enough to continue seeing each other. 

You paused on the landing between floors, the sound of laughter was echoing off the stoney walls. 

"That was a dirty move Kirstein!" you recognized Eren's agitated voice, which was closely followed by the hearty laughter of Conny and Marco. 

"Pay closer attention next time Jeager." Jean teased, a smile spread across your lips at the sound of your friends. Their presence motivated you to jog down the remaining stairs and turn the corner. Just at you poked your head around the corner your eyes landed on the group of boys walking towards you. 

"Oi (Y/n)! Where's Armin?" Eren called out to you first and you waved. 

"Still in the library." you jabbed your thumb back towards the stairs behind you. 

"Classic." Conny sniggered as he adjusted his duffle bag on his shoulder. You pursed your lips as you took in their uniforms. They wore soccer jerseys and shorts, a matching set of forest green, the school crest, a pair of wings one blue and one white, rested above their left breast over their hearts. 

"Indoor soccer?" you asked, nodding towards the ball tucked under Marco's arm. The boy nodded and tossed you the ball. 

"Season just started." he stated proudly, you easily caught the ball and smiled at him. Marco was your age, but you didn't usually spend time with him outside of school. The two of you had grown close the year prior when you had been in the same gym class, but since then you hadn't spoken very much. 

"How exciting." you murmured as you gripped the ball in your hands. The boys nodded and you tossed the ball back to Marco. 

"What are you doing here so late?" Jean asked, cocking his head to the side. 

"Studying for the Government test with Armin." you shrugged, tucking your hands in your pockets. Things had been tense in your friend group since you and Jean had began casually seeing one another. The two of you had gone out on a handful of dates over the past month, all of them enjoyable. But you knew you didn't want a full blown relationship, something you still needed to tell Jean. 

"Ah gotcha. So will you be coming to Sasha's friendsgiving party this weekend?" Jean inquired, his eyes shined with a glint of hope. 

"Oh, I almost forgot about that! Yeah I'll be there." you smiled, a rush of excitement running through you when you remembered the invitation you had received earlier this week. 

"What are you bringing?" Conny butted in, licking his lips. You hummed thoughtfully, what would you bring? 

"Maybe macaroni and cheese? Or a pie?" You thought aloud as you lifted a hand to cup your chin. Conny groaned and grabbed your shoulder. 

"Pie, please for the love of God bring your pie." he begged, his hand squeezing your shoulder. You giggled at this eagerness, and nodded. Pies were easy enough to bake, and if that's what people wanted then you would be more than happy to deliver. 

"Thank you thank you thank you-" Conny shook you as he thanked you profusely, Eren snarled and tugged the two of you apart, while Marco and Jean laughed. 

"Knock it off baldy." he hissed as he tossed Conny back. You chuckled and waved your hands dismissively. 

"I'd better go, Hange should be done soon." you sighed, your eyes straying to the nearest window, you gasped. The snow was coming down in thick swirls, the sun had dipped below the horizon, making it difficult to see much through the snow. 

"Oh wow, that's a lot of snow!" Marco exclaimed as he turned to follow your gaze. Jean let out a low whistle, Conny squealed excitedly. 

"Yeah I better get going." you called over your shoulder as you made a break for the west wing, which was where the senior parking lot was located. The halls were dark, you only crossed paths with one janitor who didn't even glance up at you. You paused at the door at the end of the hallway and squinted out into the blizzard. The parking lot was dark, a clear indicator that Hange had not arrived to warm up the car before you. 

"Ah there you are, perfect timing!" Hange's booming voice startled you as it echoed through the empty hall. 

"Oh Hange, thank God, please tell me you have your scraper." you fretted, Hange grimaced, giving you an apologetic smile. 

"Yeah about that..." she muttered, her hand rubbing the back of her neck. You groaned and reached into your backpack for your wallet. You fished out your drivers license and your credit card and turned back to the snowy parking lot. 

"Better get started then." you grumbled, Hange laughed anxiously and moved to open the door for the both of you. 

"Right."

___

You flexed your raw fingers by the vents as they blasted hot air into the cabin of the car. Hange was rubbing her hands together furiously and blowing hot air on her own frigid fingers. 

"For the love of God, just keep the scraper in the car year round." you moaned as you slid your id back into your wallet. 

"Might be a good idea actually." Hange stuttered between the chattering of her teeth. You huffed, tucking your hands underneath your thighs in an attempt to regain the feeling in your hands. Hange shifted the gear to drive and slowly pulled the car out of the parking lot, the wipers squeaking against the glass as they swiped the relentless snow off of the windshield. 

"So, what do you want for dinner kiddo?" she gushed, her coppery eyes glinting mischievously. 

"I dunno, something hot." you jabbed back, shifting on your hands. 

"Whole gangs going to be there!" Hange prodded, clearly attempting to get a reaction from you. 

"Great, who's cooking?" you taunted, shooting her a smile to show that you meant well. 

"Oh well I guess Nanaba could." Hange mused, pleased with your good natured jabs. 

"Great I'm starving." you leaned back and closed your eyes. Hange chuckled and turned her eyes back to the dark road ahead. 

The drive took longer than usual due to the heavy snowfall. The roads were slick with the fresh snow, which stuck stubbornly to the road due to the lack of traffic on the country roads. But you made it to your house without a hitch. Erwin's minivan was already covered in a layer of snow, and Levi's BMW was untouched, Mike and Nanaba had not yet arrived. Hange parked and the two of you quickly gathered your belongings and walked briskly to the front door. You kicked your feet on the mat before entering, the foyer already a bit wet due to snow being tracked in on shoes. You peeled off your shoes with Hange and carried your things upstairs, Hange following close behind. Hange slipped into Erwin's room while you dropped your bag in your own room. You hadn't seen your brother or his short friend yet which was odd, they usually hung out in the kitchen. You met Hange back in the hall, her glasses, which had fogged up when you had entered the house were perched atop of her auburn hair. 

"Where are they?" you asked bluntly as you watched her scrub the spectacles with the hem of her sweater. 

"Beats me, let's go make some soup or something." Hange shrugged, holding her glasses up to the light to inspect the lenses. So you jogged down the stairs and began pawing through the pantry through the abundance of canned goods. You frowned at the cream of mushroom soup and set it back into the pile before refocusing. 

"Heyyy now we're talking!" Hange crooned, you turned to see her pulling out a frozen pizza from the depths of your freezer. You scoffed before turning back to the pantry, a frown settling on your features. 

"How about tomato soup and grilled cheese?" you offered as you pulled out two cans of tomato soup and a loaf of bread. Hange shrugged and tossed the pizza back into the freezer, she then opened the fridge and pulled out an assortment of cheese. The two of you fell into your effortless rhythm Hange stirred the soup while you began to cook the sandwiches. Finally the front door banged open, Levi's combat boots squeaking as he walked into the house, he haphazardly kicked off the shoes and stalked into the kitchen and straight into the living room. You raised your eyebrows in surprise as you watched him walk through the house, his arms full with kindling. Erwin followed closely behind, his arms also full of firewood. So that's where the pair had been. Hange fawned over them, greeting Erwin by dusting off bits of bark from his coat before turning to pat Levi's head. Levi swatted her sticky hands off of his head and glared at her menacingly. 

"Hands off four eyes." Levi hissed, he ducked expertly underneath her arm and fled to the kitchen where you were flipping a grilled cheese. Erwin and Hange began the chore of lighting the fire while you took on the task of cooking as per usual. Levi frowned at the sight of the damp foyer and turned on his heel to grab the mop. You smiled at the sight of him mopping the floor despite the fact that people were still on their way and it would only end up messy again. Sure enough, just as Levi tossed the dirty water out of the front door and tucked the mop back in the closet, Mike and Nanaba strutted in, arms full of assorted baked goods and board games. 

"Hey everybody! Hope we didn't miss anything!" Nanaba trilled as she tracked more snow into the front room. Levi heaved a sigh as he turned to grab the mop, you chuckled and took the container of cookies from her arms so she could take off her jacket. Mike nodded at you as he strolled into the living room where Hange and Erwin were still fumbling to light the fire wood. 

"No, we actually only just got home about thirty minutes ago." you assured the blonde as she joined you in the kitchen. She smiled as she watched Mike kneel down to join Erwin and Hange as they blew on the small embers. 

"What games did you guys bring?" you attempted to make small talk as you turned back to the task at hand. 

"Oh the usuals, Sequence, Candy Land, Clue, etcetera." she waved a hand dismissively as she turned to stir the soup. 

"Sounds fun!" you exclaimed as you tossed another sandwich on the plate. Nanaba hummed in response as she smiled stupidly into the soup. You pursed your lips and cocked your head as you studied her. 

"Not to be that person but...Have you picked a school yet?" you asked with a small chuckle. She nodded, 

"Yeah actually, just picked two days ago!" she beamed, turning to face you once more. 

"Wow really?" 

"Yeah! I'm going to attend Michigan State University with Mike!" she gushed as she set the spoon off to the side with a clang. 

"That's great! Michigan is beautiful, and that's an awesome school." you matched her excitement and dumped the final sandwich on the plate and switched the stove off. 

"Thanks! We're super excited." her words were so sweet and filled with love it made you feel sick. You nodded and turned to grab plates and bowls for everyone. Nanaba and Mike had only started dating about a month prior, in fact they had admitted their affections to one another back in October at your house. In a way you envied their effortless relationship, despite only dating for a month they made a great pair. You served yourself and moved to sit at the island in the kitchen. A cheer from the living room told you that the trio had finally ignited the fire, shortly after they piled into the kitchen and began to dish food onto their plates. Levi once again stuffed the mop and bucket back into the closet and feverishly washed his hands before serving himself. As he reached for a grilled cheese the sleeve of his hoodie scrunched up, revealing a new tattoo on his left wrist. Your jaw dropped momentarily, the sight of the fresh ink shocking you. In fact it was so fresh that the skin around the ink was still red and a bit swollen, glistening with the salve. He rounded the island and dropped into the stool to your left, and your eyes went straight to his wrist. 

"Fresh ink?" you asked, propping your chin on the heel of your hand as you watched him bring the spoon to his mouth. 

"Yeah." he replied, not bothering to elaborate. 

"Can I see?" you pressed, Levi shot you a glare as he bit into his sandwich but still lifted his hand for you to pull his sleeve up. You gingerly tugged his sleeve up and a tiny 'awe' escaped your lips. The drawing was extremely minimalistic, the delicate black ink contrasting beautifully with his pale skin tone. It was a small tea cup, with a chip in its rim. Levi scoffed and tugged his arm back. 

"That's a good one Levi." you gushed as you turned back to your own meal. 

"Thanks." he grumbled as he looked everywhere but your face. 

"Where do you get them done?" you asked before taking a huge bite of your sandwich. 

"WitchHammer." he grunted, his patience growing thin. All of these questions reminded him of a particular brunette. You hummed in response as you entertained the idea of getting a tattoo for your 16th birthday that was coming up in the next couple of months. You already had an appointment at the shop to get your forward helix pierced on your left ear. The others were getting rowdy on the other side of the island, too engrossed in their conversation to notice the side conversation Levi and you were engaging in. 

"Did it hurt?" you quizzed feeling a bit playful. You had missed Levi's bluntness and his shitty sense of humor. 

"I would be lying if I said no." he retorted, his sharp eyes catching yours for the first time in weeks. You chuckled and nodded as you chewed your food. 

"You think that I would look good with a couple tattoos?" you giggled, smiling broadly at the raven haired boy. He clicked his tongue and turned to take you in, his eyes raking over your form. Finally his eyes settled on your hands, his brows pinched together in thought as he stared. 

"Personally...I like minimalistic designs, you could probably pull off some finger tats or hand tats." he mused, you glanced at your hands, interesting. You held your hands up to the light to get a better look and began to think of some small designs that you might be interested in. 

"Tattoos are a big commitment, don't just get some stupid shit." Levi lectured as he lifted his cup of tea to his lips, you frowned he was one to talk. 

"I know." you decided that tonight wasn't the time to argue with him, especially since this was the first time spending time together in weeks. He nodded but kept a skeptical eye on you as you folded your hands onto your lap and turned to listen to the other conversation. You frowned when you realized they were just talking about prom, awkward. So you decided to clean up, the exhaustion of the long day seemed to hit you like a truck and all you could think about was your bed and all of the work that was due on Sunday. You washed up quickly and waved weakly before trudging up the stairs, thankfully the others didn't seem to care that you were calling it a night early. You changed into a pair of flannel pjs and an old ACDC shirt that had seen better days. You sank into your old desk chair and flicked on the small lamp, you rummaged through your back pack and pulled out your laptop and a notebook. Sparing a glance at the small alarm clock you groaned, it was already well past nine o'clock. 

You decided to pick up from where you had left off with your Government notes. Your handwriting started off neat, the ink gliding flawlessly across the lined paper. But by the time you had finished the notes and moved on to your chemistry homework, your handwriting had become rocky at best. You frowned at the smudged ink, the green hue bleeding into the once white paper. With a sigh you reached for your white out and continued to write out the reaction. Once you were finished with Chem, you turned your attention to your research paper for English. As you typed you could feel your eyelids drooping, the words seemed to blur and bend across the computer screen. Closing your eyes for a moment wouldn't hurt would it? A defeated sigh breezed past your lips as you folded your arms across the desk and rested your forehead against your arms to block out the blinding light of your lamp. You yawned and rubbed your eyes in an attempt to wake yourself up, though this seemed to be unsuccessful. As you slipped into sleep, you recalled the last time you had fallen asleep at your desk and how fucked up your back felt the following week. But your exhaustion won and your head slumped against your desk, any pain you felt would be a problem for future you. 

Meanwhile, downstairs the upperclassman were well into their third bottle of wine and their fifth round of Candy Land. Erwin flicked the spinner and moved his piece accordingly, Levi sat back and sipped the dry red wine, Mike had his hand thrown over Nanaba's shoulders casually. Hange was leaning her head heavily against Erwin's shoulder and Levi swore he had never felt like such a loser in his whole life. If you were down here at least he wouldn't be the only person down here that was single. Hange howled as Erwin pushed his piece past hers, always the sore looser. Nanaba giggled drunkenly as she choked on her glass of wine. Levi rolled his eyes, his friends were past tipsy now, but not quite drunk, and this was usually when Levi would leave. He hated dealing with drunk people, they were messy and loud, the mere thought of any of them vomiting made him cringe. He waited until the spinner came around to him before he excused himself.

"Count me out." he held up his hand to deny the spinner as Mike tried to hand it to him. 

"Awe come on Levi! We can't let Erwin win for the fifth time in a row!" Mike begged as Levi stood up and picked up his glass of wine. 

"No." Levi denied, his voice growing colder. The group collectively called for him to stay, their voices a bit unsteady due to the alcohol. Levi shrugged them off and carefully stepped over Hange, she snagged his ankle and held him in a vice grip. 

"No, don't go Levi! Finish this game please!" she whimpered as she pressed her face into his calf. His nose wrinkled in disgust at the sudden contact, Erwin chuckled and pulled Hange back and pressed a kiss to her temple. Yeah it was definitely time for him to go to bed, besides he needed to put some vaseline on his fresh ink. He slid into the upstairs bathroom, the sound of his friends laughing fading into the background. Tugging up his sleeve his hissed at the feeling of the raw skin coming in contact with the cold air. He pawed through the drawers, pausing at the sight of your feminine hygiene products. He usually used the downstairs restroom since the guest room was in the basement. He slammed the drawer shut and moved onto the next one, a relieved sigh escaping his lips at the sight of the familiar jar of vaseline. He swiped the jelly onto his tiny tea cup tattoo and rolled his sleeve back down, the soothing jelly immediately calming the irritated skin. 

On his way out of the bathroom he noticed the small sliver of light that shined through your cracked door. He glanced down at his wrist watch and frowned, it was one thirty in the morning, you had supposedly gone to bed hours ago. He glanced down the stairs, from the bathroom he could see the open floor layout of the living room, where all of his friends were still gathered. He steeled himself and padded up to your door, he lifted his hand and rapped the backs of his knuckles against the surface. He frowned when there was no response, he gently pushed the door open and tentatively stepped inside. The room was dimly lit, the only light emitting from the small lamp on your desk. His eyes softened at the sight of you slumped onto your desk, but quickly hardened at the sight of drool dripping from the corner of your mouth. He sat his wine glass down as quietly as he could on your nightstand and raked his eyes around your cluttered room in search for a blanket. He spotted a quilt neatly folded on your window seat, he unfolded the blanket and draped it over your shoulders. Just as the blanket was settling on your shoulders and he was pulling his hands back, the door flew open. He jumped, spinning around only to be met with the sight of an unsteady Hange. The brunette's eyes widened at the sight of Levi's hand on the back of your seat. 

"What..." her eyes narrowed and she pointed between the two of you. 

"Is this?" she finished as she stepped into the room, her body swaying unsteadily. Good question, what was he doing in here? 

"I came to shut off her light." Levi lied through his teeth, the truth was that he had wanted to spend more time in your presence. 

"Lies." Hange hissed as she pointed accusingly at him. 

"Tch, believe what you want four eyes." Levi grunted as he stalked across the room, meaning to make a quick get away before she drew too much attention to this fishy situation. 

"Hey don't-" she lunged in an attempt to keep Levi from escaping, spilling her glass of wine onto the white carpet and onto Levi's crisp white hoodie. She caught herself on Levi, a drunk giggle bubbling past her lips as she clung to him. Levi staggered under her weight, his back hitting your wall with a dull thud. You grunted, slowly lifting your head from the desk you turned around to see Levi seething under Hange's weight as she pressed against him. Your eyes widened at the sight, Levi was trying to grab the glass from her hand to prevent further spillage, you were so distracted by the rare sight of Levi and Hange in such close proximity that you didn't notice the quilt falling off your shoulders. You blinked dumbly at the two of them as they grappled for the wine glass, Levi ultimately winning due to Hange's drunken state. 

"Levi was peeping on you while you slept." Hange blurted, Levi slammed his hand over her mouth and snarled. You weren't surprised when Levis pulled his hand back with a small gasp, you could just make out the sheen of what you assumed was Hange's drool over his palm. The brunette cackled and staggered away from him and out of the room. 

"I'm going to tell Erwin." she sang as she stumbled through the hall with her hand on the wall to guide her. 

"Hange don't, it's okay really." you called after her, but your words fell on deaf ears as she rounded the stairs and disappeared. 

"Damn it." Levi hissed, his eyes trained on the stain on the ground, he pulled the sweat shirt off of his skin, the alcohol sticking to his skin. You cleared your throat awkwardly as Levi pulled the sweatshirt off. You glanced at the stairs, no sign of Hange and Erwin yet, you could hear the sound of the group stumbling around the kitchen. Hopefully Hange had forgotten and favored grabbing another drink over causing trouble, so you stood up and crossed your room to quietly shut the door. Levi had his head against the wall, his eyes closed expecting an onslaught of accusations. Instead he was surprised to see you digging through your closet, pulling out one of your larger sweatshirts you tossed it to him. He caught the garment and eyed is suspiciously before tugging it over his head. 

"Thanks." he mumbled, you waved him off and crossed your room to sit down on your bed. 

"What's up?" you questioned, it was certainly out of character for him to be in your room. Levi shrugged and slowly crossed the room to drop down onto your bed next to you. 

"Your light was on and I came in to shut it off." Levi replied nonchalantly, his eyes dull as he watched you slip under your covers. A chill ran up your spine, your room always got cold in the winter due to the large windows. After a moment of awkward silence you patted the space beside you, Levi quirked a brow at you but when you smiled at him he slid closer to you. He settled against the headboard with a sigh, you looked up at him, taking in the sharp lines of his jaw and the way his Adam's apple bobbed when he swallowed. He turned and raised a brow skeptically at you, you giggled and turned to slip deeper under your covers. He scoffed but turned to face you, propping himself up on his elbow. From this close proximity you could smell the wine on his breath, you noticed that his pupils were dilated, and his cheeks flushed. 

"Thanks...I guess." you muttered as you watched him reach into his pockets and pull out his juul and take a hit. You frowned as he turned his head away from you to exhale, he sighed contentedly and turned to face you once more. 

"You're going to get me in trouble." you scoffed as he attempted to offer you the juul. 

"You only live once." he smirked as he dangled the device in your face. You gently pushed his hand away from your face, he shrugged and took another drag. 

"Are you sleeping over?" you questioned, he simply nodded and pocketed his juul. 

"It's like three in the morning." he scoffed rolling his eyes in annoyance. 

"Oh, I guess..." you trailed off, the house had grown quiet, hopefully Hange had been dragged to bed by Erwin and had long forgotten about snitching on Levi. You weren't sure what Levi was still doing in your bed, you knew that he wouldn't force himself on you, but still he had never spend this much time alone with you since the time you had kissed. Just as you were about to ask him why he was still in your room, you heard the sound of the front door opening and then quickly closing. Your mother was home, you shoved Levi's shoulder and motioned for him to get out of your bed, a surge of panic rushing through you. Your mom would kill you if she saw Levi in your bed this late. Levi grunted and rolled off the bed, landing heavily on the ground with a thud. You winced and pointed at the door, Levi opened his mouth to say something but ultimately turned and stalked towards the door. When he opened the door, he was met with the tired face of your mother. Her eyes widened at the unexpected sight of Levi. 

"Oh, Levi.." she managed to keep her voice even as she took in his appearance, his hair a bit mussed, cheeks pink and wearing your clothes. 

"It's not what it looks like mom!" you scrambled out of bed and pushed Levi away from the doorway so that you could address your mother. 

"Really..." she narrowed her eyes skeptically as her eyes roamed over your pajamas and messy hair. You grimaced but nodded, she glared at you and heaved a heavy sigh, turning her attention to Levi. 

"So your uncle told me that you wouldn't be coming to Christmas this year?" she swiftly changed the subject. Levi blinked, shocked that she had chosen to ignore the suspicious state she had found the two of you in. 

"Y-Yeah that's true, I finally saved enough to visit my old friends in France for the holidays." he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. 

"Is that so?" she hummed, leaning against the door frame and tugging her light jacket closer to her body. Levi nodded and spared you a glance, you looked surprised, but not upset. 

"Well that sounds amazing, you'll have to send us a postcard." she mused, Levi nodded and shifted awkwardly. 

"Yes ma'm." he responded, your mother nodded pleased with his response. 

"How long will you be gone for?" she probed. 

"Until January 8th." Levi answered. 

"That's a long time." you quipped, Levi glanced at you and nodded. 

"How exciting." your mother's response was genuine, she stepped aside allowing him to pass. 

"Yeah." he muttered as he slid past and made his way towards the stairs. Once he was out of sight your mother turned to you, her usually soft features pinching into a scowl. 

"Explain." she snapped, pointing a finger at the sizable wine stain. 

"Hange spilled it, I'll clean it in the morning." you sighed as you eyed the large purple spot. 

"Alright, just make sure that it gets cleaned." your mother leaned forward and kissed your forehead. You smiled at her, it was unusual that you got to see her after her shift. 

"How was work?" you asked as you eyed her scrubs, noting a mystery stain on her shirt.

"Messy." she sighed as she followed your gaze. 

"Did you save lots of lives?" you giggled. 

"Of course." your mother jabbed. 

"Get some sleep (Y/n)." she hummed, her hand burying into your messy hair to ruffle it affectionately. 

"Goodnight mom." you called after her as she descended the staircase, she waved her hand and you slowly shut the door.


	6. Chocolate Chip Cookies

November had seamlessly slipped into December, your small town was now decorated with wreathes of evergreen boughs instead of dried corn husks. A large Christmas tree had been set up in the small park off of main street, a crowd of enthusiastic citizens milling about to decorate the large evergreen. You turned your attention back to the hardware store where your older brother was purchasing a roll of wrapping paper and an armful of Christmas lights. Erwin thanked the cashier and pushed out of the store with his arms full of paper bags. You wordlessly relieved him of two of the bags, a smile on your face.

You had to admit, the town was doused in an ethereal winter glow, it was a Saturday afternoon and main street was bustling. The small coffee shop was decked out in Christmas decorations and people were flocking to get a cup of their holiday specials. The small boutiques were advertising the latest fashions, the hardware store was busier than usual, and the small breakfast joint was packed with families enjoying a quiet breakfast. The sidewalks were damp with melted snow, chunks of sidewalk salt crunching underfoot as you made your way to Erwin's minivan that was parked down the street.

"So movie night tonight..." Erwin cleared his throat and glanced down at you.

"Yeah, nothing too special just the usual crew." you shrugged indifferently.

"I figured as much." the blonde sighed as he fumbled for his keys in his pocket.

"Is there a problem?" you asked, a bit nervous that Erwin would change his mind and tell you that you couldn't host the movie night that you had planned.

"No, no of course not, I was just wondering if you were planning on seeing Levi off with Mom and I tomorrow morning." he hummed thoughtfully as you loaded the bags into the trunk of the van.

"I'll be there." you grunted as you settled into the front seat. Erwin nodded, pleased with your response and started the car.

-

When you arrived at your house you were surprised to see that Levi and Hange were both present. A glance at your brother told you that he also was not expecting them to be there either. You both made quick work of bringing in the groceries, you smiled softly at the sight of your mother and Hange fussing over some garland that you draped over the kitchen cabinets as decoration. Levi was hunched over the sink with his sleeves of his chunky knit sweater rolled up as he scrubbed relentlessly at a pan. Erwin bushed past you and into the living room to light the fireplace, you bit your lip to conceal a giggle as Hange got tangled in the itchy garland. Your mom immediately set to work on untangling her and you turned to put away the goods that you and Erwin had acquired.

Erwin waltzed back into the kitchen and set to work on drying the dishes that Levi had already washed, the two of them falling into an easy rhythm. You took the dried dishes and began to put them away, reveling in the domestic environment. You knew that this wouldn't last much longer, they were going to school, starting their lives. Instead of dwelling on the thought you decided to just enjoy the little time that you had left with them.

"Aw that looks amazing! Good work Hange!" your mom praised the brunette as she finished tacking up the garland over the cabinets.

"Thanks Angie!" Hange beamed, your mom chuckled and took the hammer and remaining nails from her to return to their rightful places. Hange turned to see the three of you finishing up the last of the dishes.

"Look at you guys getting along." she cooed, clutching her hands over the sleek black turtleneck that she wore tucked into her bright yellow checkered pants.

"Shut up and go grab me a fresh rag." Levi grunted as he shoved the dirty rag into Hange's hands. She turned and obediently made her way down the hall to the laundry room to fetch a fresh rag for Levi to wipe down the counters.

"What's Kenny planning on doing this year without you home?" Erwin prodded, as he watched Levi scrape a skeptical finger over the countertop.

"Gamble, drink himself to death, hell if I know." Levi scoffed as he wiped his hand off on a hand towel and stooped down to pull out the all purpose cleaner from under the sink.

"Is that what he usually does?" you asked carefully, Levi paused a thoughtful look passing over his usually stoic mien.

"I guess." Levi shrugged, his face falling back into one of indifference. You hummed thoughtfully, nobody deserved to spend Christmas alone, not even Levi's bum of an uncle. Hange jogged back into the kitchen sliding on the clean floors due to her thick cabin socks. She held the clean rag out proudly for Levi who then doused it with cleaner and began scrubbing the counters. Your mom returned from the garage, her cheeks flushed from the cold.

"Levi sweetie what have I told you about cleaning? You really don't have to do that." she scolded, Levi frowned but continued to wipe down the counters while Erwin busied himself with inspecting the new LED lights that he had purchased. Your mother reached up and ruffled Erwins hair affectionately as she passed and made her way towards the stairs. Hange chuckled and settled into one of the stools at the island.

"When will your buddies be arriving?" she hummed, a smirk curling onto her lips as she perched her chin on her intertwined fingers. You pursed your lips and glanced at the clock over the stove, it was only three o'clock, they shouldn't arrive until six.

"Sometime around six." you reported, pulling a holiday magazine out of the stack in the middle of the island. You idly flipped through the pages, ignoring the way Hange's glasses glinted in the light as she studied you thoughtfully. She inhaled, as if she were about to speak, but you quickly shut the tabloid and threw it back onto the pile and stood.

"Welp better go set things up." you stretched dramatically and before Hange or anyone else could get in another word you fled down stairs. Thankfully you had taken the time the night prior to clean out the basement and pull out decorations. You stacked piles of seasonal quilts and other knit blankets about on the couch and some on the floor as well. You lit some seasonal candles in the basement restroom and one on the T.V stand.

You had already set up a tangle of white LED lights at the base of the TV and some other small snowmen figurines as well as a small Christmas tree in the back corner for the group to decorate and place white elephant gifts beneath. The tree was already bundled up with rainbow lights and strands of shimmery tinsel. You deemed the basement as satisfactory and turned to begin preparing snacks and other treats.

You weren't surprised to find Hange and Levi at each others throats, Hange had a fistful of Levi's sweater, and he had her by the ponytail. Erwin was still engrossed by the lights as he attempted to untangle them, seemingly unbothered by his friends. You carefully stepped over the mess of lights and began by preheating the oven, you planned on making frozen pizzas and some of those cheap Pillsbury dough boy sugar cookies that you bought during the holidays.

"Admit it!" Hange snarled as she jostled Levi.

"You're being overdramatic four eyes." Levi hissed as she shook him relentlessly.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

You rolled your eyes and did your best to ignore them. Their relationship never ceased to confuse you, the pair seemed to constantly be in a state of turmoil. One day they were perfectly content with each other, but the next they would be at each others throats as they were now. It gave you whiplash, especially on days when they flipped between these two states every few minutes. Realistically you knew that it was Hange who added the turmoil to their relationship, she was very chaotic by nature. You originally figured that Levi tolerated Hange's presence because Erwin and her were dating, but now that you had gotten to see the two of them interact you knew better. Somewhere deep down you knew Levi cared about the manic young scientist, and Hange openly voiced her affections for Levi.

You smiled at the sound of the two of them tussling, their staggering steps receding into the living room where they would have more room to rough one another up. You heard a body slam to the ground, which is when you turned to see Levi glaring down at Hange who was now sprawled out on the hardwood floor. Erwin frowned at his friends disapproval evident on his features. When he had first introduced the pair all they ever did was fight, but that was when they were younger, now he expected better from them. Also he was surprised that Hange still even attempted to best Levi in a fight, the raven haired male was surprisingly strong and had experience under his belt.

Hange hauled herself onto her feet as Levi stalked back towards the kitchen, his sweater now stretched out around the neck where Hange had tugged on the material. Just as he was about the sit down, Hange snagged him around the neck and locked him into a choke hold, a victorious bout of laughter leaving her lips as she dragged him back into the living room. Levi's socked feet attempted in vain to slow down the persistent brunette as she drug him backwards. You slid the pizza in the oven and turned to pull out the popcorn so that it would be ready for when the others arrived. Erwin scoffed and gathered the lights, which were now free of tangles and hauled them outside into the waning light.

You frowned after him, hoping that he didn't plan to put them up in the dark. Turning your attention back to the brawl in the living room you were impressed to see that Hange still had the upper hand. Levi had a hand placed on her jaw as he tried to push her face away from his, the two of them were on the ground, Hange underneath Levi who was trapped in a choke hold with Hange's legs wrapped around his waist. Levi snarled as he thrashed in Hange's hold, his sweater riding up as he struggled. Hange was laughing her head off, finally releasing Levi in favor of clutching her stomach as her laughter grew more intense. Levi seethed as he took a few healthy steps away from Hange and ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to straighten it. Hange stood up and wiped a tear from her eye before turning to face Levi.

"But seriously, you should do it." Hange's tone turned serious as she addressed Levi. He scoffed and curled his lip in disgust.

"Probably more trouble than it's worth." he retorted.

"Just give it a shot." Hange begged, her hands clasped together over her chest.

"I'll think about it." Levi snorted, he stalked out of the living room and back into the kitchen, his eyes sweeping over the room, clearly searching for Erwin.

"Outside." you jabbed a thumb in the direction of the front door, he said nothing as he trudged past. You knew better than to ask what they had been arguing about, they always just brushed you off. So instead you returned your focus on preparing for your movie marathon. You could already see a bruise forming on Hange's jaw from here Levi's fingers hand attempted to pry her off of him. You flinched, recalling his iron grip, you knew how it felt to be manhandled by him.

"So...what are you guys doing tonight?" you questioned casually as you pulled the cookies from the oven. Your voice derailed Hange's train of thought, she whipper her head around and pursed her lips as she considered your question.

"Hm, I guess whatever Levi wants since it is his last night in the states for a whole month." she mused, rubbing her hand along her tender jaw. You nodded, this probably meant nothing, Levi wasn't much of an extrovert so it made sense that he wouldn't want many people present except for those he considered dearest to him to see him off.

"Well if you guys want you could join us, they won't be staying late." you were quick to tack on the last part, knowing that Levi probably wasn't ecstatic to spend his last night with underclassmen.

"I'll see what I can do." Hange winked before retreating towards the stairs and jogging up them, presumably to change into comfier clothes. You leaned against the counter and sighed heavily, things were changing and you hated it. You knew that at sooner or later your brother would go off and begin his life, but you did not expect it to come so quickly. You also didn't expect to grow so fond of his friends. Before you could totally bum yourself out your phone vibrated, startling you.

"Hello?" you asked, not bothering to check the caller id.

"(Y/n)?" Connie's familiar upbeat voice brought you back to earth.

"Yeah what's up?" you chuckled as you wedged your phone between your ear and shoulder to slide the pizza into the oven.

"I just wanted to let ya know that Sasha and I are on our way and we are bringing some snacks just like you asked!" he boasted, you could practically see the swell of his chest and the smug smirk on his lips as he spoke.

"Great! How far away are you?" you asked as you shut the oven.

"About five minutes." he affirmed.

"I'll see you soon." you hummed as you set the timer on the oven.

"Yep!" he beamed, after a moment you heard the familiar beep signaling that the call had been ended. You dropped your phone back onto the counter and glanced out the window behind the sink. The sun had began to sink below the trees, and still Erwin and Levi were outside, you hoped that they were not trying to tack up the lights. With a heavy sigh you trudged through the front of the house and slipped on a pair of Erwin's moccasins and pushed through the front door. You wrapped your arms around your chest and frowned when you didn't see the pair anywhere on the front yard. You cupped your hands over your mouth and inhaled sharply.

"Erwin!" you yelled, your voice echoing off the barren trees and the serene snowy scene. No response. Just as you were about to call again, a huge glob of snow fell off the roof right on to your head. You shrieked and turned to see Levi standing on the roof, the toes of his boot sticking over the newly uncovered patch of your roof. You glared up at him as you brushed the snow off of your shirt and shivered.

"Quit shouting." was all he said before turning and stalking back out of your line of sight.

"Are you guys almost finished? It's getting dark and I don't want to spend the night in the hospital." you whined as you took a few steps back to get a better view of the roof. You heard the distant sound of a hammer, but no response to your question. You rolled your eyes and took yet another step back. This time you could see Erwin hunched over the edge of the roof, Levi had returned to his side to hold him by his belt as he stood on the slippery surface. Not the smartest or safest way to hang up lights but hey if it works it works. After a few more swings Erwin leaned back on his haunches to admire his work, with a satisfied nod the two grabbed the remaining nails and began their descent.

"Hold that ladder for us would ya (Y/n)?" Erwin hollered down and pointed a finger to the old metal ladder that was perched against the side of the house. You nodded and waded through the snow to stabilize the ladder for the two of them to climb down. You only relaxed when both of them were safely on the ground, the three of you quickly gathered all of the tools that they used and folded the ladder back up before trudging through the snow to the side door that led into the garage. You stored all of the items and filed into the door that led into the kitchen, only to find Sasha and Connie milling about with Hange and your mother.

The kitchen was warm due to the heat of the oven and all of the people in the room. You tugged at the neck of your crewneck sweat shirt, your eyes drifted to where Connie was struggling to open a candy cane. Sasha was ripping open a bag of popcorn to place int the microwave. A short knock on the door alerted you that someone else had arrived, just as you rounded the corner to let in your guests, the door opened and Jean poked his head in.

"Hey!" he exclaimed as he pushed the rest of the way in, a paper bag cradled in the crook of his elbow.

"Hey, come on in!" you waved him in, a smile gracing your lips at the sight of Marco close behind him, a stack of old CDs in his grasp.

"Marco! I'm so glad you could make it." you gushed as you went to relieve Jean of the bag in his arms. Marco smiled a bit bashfully and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah me too." he blushed, the red tint obscuring his freckled cheeks.

"Well you can go ahead and take those to the basement, Jean can you show him?" you asked as the three of you entered the chaotic kitchen. Jean nodded and grabbed Marco's bicep to steer him towards the basement, before you knew it the pair had disappeared down the stairs.

Your mom had given Connie a hand and opened his candy for him, and now he was sucking on the peppermint candy, the end of it gradually forming a point. Sasha was listening to Hange as she gestured wildly, something about the amount of chemicals and various pesticides used to grow corn. Levi was surprisingly still in the crowded kitchen, although it seemed he was purely there to supervise, Erwin was inspecting Hange and your mother's handy-work with the garland. Just as you managed to wedge yourself between Hange and Sasha to reach the oven, the sound of the doorbell made Sasha jump and push you back.

"I'll get it!" she cried out before making a break for the foyer and escaping Hange's rant. You rolled your eyes and pulled the pizza out of the oven. Hange bounced around the kitchen, stopping in front of Erwin, he pulled her into his embrace by her hips, Levi rolled his eyes before stalking away from the pair. He padded through the kitchen and into the living room where he dropped onto the sofa. You pursed your lips, the thought of joining him crossed your mind but before you could act on it Jean had you by your shoulders and was steering you towards the basement to follow the crowd downstairs.

You allowed him to guide you downstairs along with the others, Connie and Sasha were already in the basement, running circles around the couch chasing one another. Connie had Sasha on the run, periodically jabbing his sharpened candy cane at her whenever he got close enough. You cracked a smile at the pair as the others moved to sit on the couch, you took a moment to appreciate Mikasa's outfit, she had favored a festive red sweater that had a raindeer sewn onto the front instead of her usual goth get up. Eren had also worn a forrest green sweater with a Christmas tree, Armin wore a sky blue sweater with a cheeky snowman on the front. You beamed at their choices, all of them very fitting, Jean and Marco wore a matching set with two elves on the front of their green sweaters. Connie and Sasha also wore sweaters, Connie's had Rudolf with a nose that actually lit up while Sasha wore a white sweater with a turkey on the front.

Connie finally managed to catch Sasha, holding her in a chokehold and dragging her over to the sofa. Marco dropped down next to Armin and the two began to sift through the options, Mikasa watched the two converse while keeping an eye on Eren who was poking fun at Jean's sweater. You decided to let the pair work it out on their own for once and dropped down next to Mikasa. Marco had managed to bring quite the variety of movies, he had classics like Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, A Christmas Story, Santa Clause, Home Alone, and more. You unanimously decided that A Christmas Story would be the perfect start, so you popped the disk in and all settled into your seats. Sasha and Connie had to sit on the ground, you had learned the hard way that they were messy eaters and it was much easier to clean the floor than the crevices in the couch. The movies went by quickly, and before long it was already 12 am, you finished the last few minutes before everyone began to fold blankets and pick up the dishes that they had used. You all climbed the stairs and dropped the dishes in the sink and the trash in the bin, you thanked them for coming and wished them safe travels as they all filed out the door. Jean lingered for a moment, a hand on your hip as the two of you stood on the threshold. The others had long since climbed into their cars, it was only Marco who was waiting for Jean.

"Thanks again for hosting tonight." Jean smirked as he pulled you flush against his chest, the scratchy sweater tickled your nose as you rested your head against him.

"It's really not that big of a deal, I like having all you guys over." you whispered against his chest as he rubbed a hand up and down the curve of your back. You were surprised when a flurry of butterflies fluttered in your stomach at his ministrations. His hand slid up your back and came to rest splayed between your shoulder blades for a moment before continuing to slide up and into your hair. Your heart pounded in your ears as he kept his steady gaze on your face, with a gentle tug he pulled your head back to look up at him. You blinked rapidly, as he slowly leaned in until his breath fanned across your lips.

"May I kiss you?" he murmured, his tongue flicking our over his bottom lip as he awaited your answer.

"Y-You may." you stuttered, that was all he needed. He closed the small gap and pressed his lips against your own, taking your bottom lip into his mouth and sucking. You kissed him back timidly, not quite sure how you felt about this interaction. It seemed as if the kiss lasted for hours, when in reality it was probably only about two minutes. Marco laid on the horn of Jean's car, startling the two of you. Jean smiled sheepishly at you before turning and jogging down the steps and over to his car. He turned and waved at you, even going as far as winking before climbing into his car and starting the engine. You couldn't stop your wandering fingers from tracing your wet lower lip as he drove off, he wasn't a half bad kisser. You stepped back into the foyer and closed the door and locked up. The house was quite, but you could hear Hange laughing upstairs, and your mom's TV in her room playing Grey's Anatomy. Since the others had been kind enough to aid you in cleaning up most of the mess, you decided to go get changed into pajamas. You tiptoed up the stairs and past Erwin's room, you could hear Hange, Levi, and Erwin behind the door, they seemed to be bickering as per usual.

You quickly threw on a sweatshirt and a pair of running shorts before wandering back to Erwin's door and rapping on the wood with the back of your knuckles. The voices fell quiet before Erwin pulled the door open just enough to peek through the crack, you frowned at him skeptically. He relaxed when he realized that it was only you and pulled the door open to allow you inside. Erwin's room was like most athletic teen males, messy. His desk was cluttered with papers and pens and the odd textbook. His bed was messed up, Hange was splayed across the comforter watching Levi scroll through his phone. The LED lights in Erwin's room were rotating through multiple colors, the floor was surprisingly clean, probably because Levi was in the room. Your eyes fell on his large beanbag that rested in its usual corner and you moved to fall onto the familiar seat but before you could collapse Hange called out to you.

"(Y/n)! come lay with me." she yawned as she beckoned you over. You sighed but decided to indulge her, you frowned at the small amount of space between her and Levi and opted for the foot of the bed. Erwin dropped down into his desk chair and hunched over his homework, seemingly uninterested in hanging out with you just yet. You sank down onto the foot of Erwin's queen sized bed, Hange frowned and patted the space between her and Levi. You grimaced but still crawled up the bed and pressed your self to Hange to avoid entering Levi's bubble. Hange draped her arm over your waist as you settled your back against her chest.

"Leviiiii let us see" Hange cooed, reaching to pull Levi's elbow so you could see his phone screen. Levi frowned but obliged, angling his wrist so all three of you could see his screen. He was on tiktok, watching a deep cleaning video. His for you page followed the trend of the first video, reviews on cleaning products, amazon reviews and unboxings, some aesthetic videos, mostly boring things. Before you knew it Hange's head slumped down onto your shoulder and you felt her steady breath on your skin, her arm that had been holding you in her iron grip had also gone slack. Levi glanced at the two of you and tried to engrave the image in his mind, the crushing reality of leaving his friends was beginning to sink in. Anyone else would think that he would be happy to leave this bumpkin town for Paris, but they would be wrong. His phone buzzed in his hand, forcing him to tear his gaze off of the two of you. He blinked at the banner that had appeared at the top of his screen, an unknown number. 

"Have a safe trip tomorrow big bro! ❤️(red heart emoji)" Levi allowed the corner of his mouth to curl upwards as he read the message. However it was short lived when he realized that it was around 7am in Paris, what on earth was she doing up? He rolled his eyes and opened the message to shoot her a reply: 

"Go back to sleep brat it's a Saturday." he shut his phone off as soon as the message went through, feeling a bit better about his impending departure knowing that his sister was waiting for him. He hadn't seen them in almost 7 years now, he had left France with his uncle when he was only 11 years old when his uncle had gotten a new job. He was only able to return now because he had spent the last three years working odd jobs to save up enough cash to purchase a round trip to France for the holidays. 

"Penny for your thoughts?" your muffled voice brought Levi back to the present. He scoffed, glancing down he noted that your eyes were closed and your face pressed into the pillows. He spared another glance to your brother who was now typing furiously on his laptop with a pair of cheap headphones pushed deep into his ears. 

"Well?" you pressed, cracking an eye open to gauge his reaction. 

"There's nothing to share." he huffed, sinking deeper into Erwin's bed dejectedly. 

"So you admit that your head is filled with nothing but elevator music?" you jabbed, a sleepy smirk on your lips. Levi's nose scrunched at the comment, he rolled over onto his side, propping his head on his hand as he glared daggers down at you. 

"At least tell me what song is playing in there." you giggled, reaching a hand up to tap you index finger on his temple. He blinked slowly as he allowed you to tease him, knowing that this would be the last time you would get the chance for a whole month. You frowned when he said nothing still and sighed heavily. 

"You really won't tell me?" you pursed your lips when Levi's lip twitched, threatening to curl upwards. So that's how it's going to be. 

"I was thinking about you." Levi professed, his tone surprisingly tender. Your eyes widened, now you were awake, you felt hot embarrassment rush up your neck and cover your cheeks. 

"W-What?" you stammered, the confidence that had flowed so freely through your actions earlier long forgotten. 

"You heard me." 

"Could you be more specific?" 

"Eh" Levi shrugged and rolled over so his back was to you. Astonished, you sat frozen still being crushed under a sleeping Hange. You sat up as much as you could to peek at Erwin, yup he was still grinding on that Economy project. Carefully you shrugged Hange's arm off of your waist and rolled out from under her head. She only snorted and rolled so her back was to you. You sat up fully and grabbed Levi's upper arm to shake him, after a few seconds of jostling, he rolled over and opened his mouth to hand you a snarky comment. His eyes widened slightly to see your finger pressed firmly against your lips. You jerked your head towards the door before you threw your legs over Levi's and slid off the bed and quietly let yourself out of the room. Levi frowned as he watched you leave, a bit confused on what was about to happen. Did you want him to fuck you? Maybe, most likely not but a guy can dream. 

He frowned at Erwin who was totally engrossed in his work, even mumbling incoherently to himself as he typed. Perfect timing, he padded quietly across the room and slid out into the dark hallway, a purple glow illuminating the hall as he opened the door. You turned and gave Levi a small smile, but just as he was about to demand why you had summoned him you turned and slunk down the stairs. Now he was officially stumped, still he followed you down into the empty kitchen, you didn't stop there though, you continued down the stairs.Casting a brief glance over your shoulder to make sure that he was following you. Once you had reached the basement you dropped dramatically onto the couch and leaned back into the cushions. 

"So are you excited to leave tomorrow?" you asked, turning your sleepy gaze to him as he settled down onto the cushions next to you. 

"You could say that." he shrugged as he threw an arm over the back of the couch and tilted his head to gauge your reaction. 

"I would be too, I mean those French girls must be smoking hot." you chuckled as you rolled to your side to face him, a wry smile on your lips. Levi scoffed and averted his gaze, once you had stopped giggling you sighed contently. 

"It's getting late." you groaned as you glanced at your phone. Levi hummed in agreement as he watched you avoid his gaze. 

"Why did you drag me down here?" Levi asked outright, you licked your lips as you attempted to put your feelings into words. But how could you do that when you didn't even know how to feel. 

"I guess I just wanted to, I don't know have a moment with you before you leave." you muttered your eyes trained on your hands as you toyed with a ring on your finger. Levi said nothing as he watched you fidget. 

"Well here we are." his cold eyes were locked on you as you turned to shoot him a glare. 

"I know." you replied meekly, desperately wanting him to ease the awkward atmosphere, but you knew Levi and he wasn't very good at breaking the ice. So the two of you sat in silence for a moment, just staring at each other. 

"Even though you're a massive dick, I'm going to miss you." you broke the thick silence. 

"Quit being so dramatic, I'll be gone for a month not a year." Levi rolled his eyes and let his arm fall from the back of the couch to drape over your shoulders. You winced, surprised by his sudden action. He tightened his grip and pulled you into his side, his face still void of emotion. 

"It's not like that, I'll just miss you cleaning my house for me. Now I'm going to have to pick up the slack." you joked, a playful smile spreading across your face, but the happiness didn't quite seem to reach your eyes. This didn't escape Levi's watchful gaze, instead of commenting on your obvious uncertainty Levi only pulled you closer to him. 

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll just be cleaning up after Isabel and Farlan." he spoke softly, his face still void of any expression in particular. You pursed your lips and nodded thoughtfully, you wondered if one day you would get the pleasure of meeting the pair. When you said nothing Levi tapped his finger against your bicep and inhaled sharply. 

"Are you jealous?" 

"Ha as if." you scoffed, throwing him a playful glance as you elbowed him sharply in his ribs. His lip quirked upwards, if you hadn't been paying attention you would have missed his small smile.Your chest swelled with pride, it was rare for someone to say something worthy of Levi smiling about, it was only recently that you had noticed that you had been able to coax a few brief smiles onto his face. 

You wondered if you would be able to still make him smile when he comes back.


	7. Iced Coffee

Due to the small size of your town, you had to drive three full hours to a larger airport with flights that were going to New York, where Levi would board a plane that would take him across the ocean. To say that the car ride was awkward would be an understatement, at the last moment Kenny had decided that he wanted to see his nephew off, so you had to leave earlier than planned to pick him up. Luckily there was plenty of room in Erwin's old mini van for all of you. Your mom drove, Kenny sat in the passenger seat, Erwin and Levi sat in the middle row, leaving Hange and you crammed in the back with Levi's luggage.

Your mom and Kenny were getting along well as far as you could tell, talking about their jobs and holiday plans.

"Hey, why don't you join us on Christmas?" you couldn't help but gape in surprise at your mother's words. Kenny scoffed and shook his head, amused at her suggestion.

"That's kind of you but I wouldn't want to impose." the man said, shaking his head as he chuckled at your mother's words.

"No seriously, we have plenty of room and besides my brother is bringing one of his good friends." your mother shrugged, her eyes still trained on the road. You noticed that Levi and Erwin both had tensed in front of you, trying to seem uninterested in the conversation happening in the front of the car. Hange had both her ear buds in so she was completely oblivious to the conversation.

"Well, it would be rude of me to say no now wouldn't it?" Kenny smirked at your mom who only smirked and nodded in agreement.

"It would be pretty rude." she teased, Kenny smiled impishly at her before turning to look out at the passing scenery.

__

As expected the airport was bustling, families rushing into the building and cars lined bumper to bumper picking up people and dropping them off just the same. Business men in suits were everywhere, as were recreational travelers dressed in sweats and casual wear. Your mom parked the car and all of you helped Levi gather his bags. You watched as Levi tugged at the neckline of his black hoodie before slinging his carry on bag across his back. Erwin sat his large suit case down in front of Levi, who was dusting himself off. Once Levi was pleased with his appearance you all made your way into the airport, it wasn't long before you had weighed his luggage and were heading towards security. You came to a halt outside of security, stepping aside so you could say goodbyes without hindering other travelers. Your mom was first, she pulled out an envelope and handed it to Levi, a soft smile on her lips. Levi furrowed his brows and took the envelope to examine the contents.

"Think of it as an early birthday present from all of us." Your mom explained as he pulled the flap back his eyes widened and he quickly shoved the envelope back towards your mom.

"I can't accept this." he said as his face turned dark.

"Please, you don't have to spend it." your mom urged, pushing the envelope back to his chest. He rolled his eyes and slung the backpack off his back to push the money into the bag.

"Fine, thank you very much." he murmured as he heaved the bag back over his shoulder. Your mom smiled sweetly and pulled Levi into a hug, he wrapped his arm around her and allowed her to hold him. After your mom let go of him she patted his shoulder affectionately. Erwin was next, he shamelessly hugged Levi who awkwardly patted his broad shoulder, the hug wasn't long which wasn't surprising. As soon as the pair separated Hange jumped Levi and rocked him as she held him tightly. Finally it was your turn, just like all the other hugs Levi only wrapped one arm around you, and the embrace was brief. He didn't hug his uncle, only nodded tersely in his direction, Kenny returned the sentiment and then Levi grabbed his bag and stalked towards the long winding line to get through security.

"Have a safe trip Levi!" Hange yelled, waving enthusiastically after him.

"Don't forget to call!" your mom called, an affectionate smile on her face. Levi simply lifted his hand lazily to acknowledge the two as he got in line. As soon as you were sure that he was well on his way to reaching his flight in time your little group made your way back out to the parking lot to start the long drive home.

__

Traffic had been horrendous on the way back home, making the drive about an hour longer than it would have been. Your mom invited Kenny over for tea, and to your surprise he agreed. Erwin and Hange already had reservations at a local Italian restaurant, and you would rather be caught dead than spending the rest of your day with your mom and Levi's eccentric uncle. So you texted Jean.

"Want to do homework tonight?"

"Of course, name a time and place and I'll be there ;)"

You smiled at your phone as you typed out a quick reply.

"How about the Cover Cove around 5:00?"

"Great, I think that they have a live band playing tonight."

"Really? That sounds fun, is that going to bother you if we're trying to study?"

"No, I don't expect to do much studying anyway...I'll be too distracted by your beauty."

You rolled your eyes, he's always so cheesy. You chuckled and replied with a laughing emoji and a heart emoji. Not long after you sent Jean your reply your mom pulled into your driveway and parked the car. You all piled out of the car and into the house, your mom and Kenny settled into the kitchen while Erwin and Hange slunk off into Erwin's room to get ready for their date. You retreated into your own room to prepare your things for your outing this evening. You changed into a pair of mom jeans and a white chunky knit sweater. You packed your bag and checked the time, you had about thirty minutes before Jean would come pick you up. You wandered down the stairs to grab a snack, your mom and Kenny were still in the kitchen drinking tea, you'd only seen Kenny a handful of times. Whenever you had seen him he wore a scowl or a smug smirk, but this time he looked thoughtful, and intrigued.

"-so in order to stop the bleeding I had to stick my fingers in the wound." your mom was waving her hands with enthusiasm as she recalled the events of one of her favorite ER patients. A story that you knew well, a man came in with a gun wound, he'd been shot by his buddy on accident while they were out hunting. To stop the bleeding she had stuck her index finger and her middle fingers into the wound. At the time she had only been working at the hospital for about a week, she swears that this event paved the way to her becoming head ER nurse years later. You fixed yourself a simple sandwich and slowly began to eat it, only half listening to your mother and Kennys' conversation.

"Wait wait wait, so you're telling me that you stuck two fingers in that man's thigh?"

"Well yeah of course!" your mother scoffed into her tea cup, clearly pleased that she had captured Kenny's attention. You wondered what Kenny did for a living. Your eyes flickered to his hands, they were slender like Levi's, but they were rough with callouses. He was thin, but muscular, sharp features, cheekbones that could probably cut diamonds. If you were to see him from behind one might think that he was no older than thirty five. But the lines on his face gave away his true age, his eyes were outlined by crows feet and dark puffy bags. His beard was scraggly and reminded you of the way that the Amish men wore their beards. You were startled when your mother stood and disappeared down the hall, leaving you alone with Kenny.

"Take a picture it will last longer." Kenny drawled as he dunked his tea bag in and out of his cup.

"I'm good." you squeaked, a wave of embarrassment crashed over you, a bit ashamed at being caught. He made no move to continue the conversation but you were still to curious about why Levi despised him so much.

"Your mom makes a mean earl grey." Kenny's deep baritone filled the silence once again taking you by surprise.

"She does." you agreed, you glanced at the clock, only ten more minutes. Kenny watched you disappear up the stairs, an amused smirk spreading across his lips. He was no fool, he knew that you were apprehensive of him, most likely due to what your big brother and Levi had told you about him. And you would be right to be weary around the older man. When you returned down the stairs, your mother had already returned, she was showing Kenny a small container of screws. The screws were once in Erwin's knee, from when he had injured himself playing lacrosse back in middle school, that was a good story. You didn't want to interrupt them so you didn't say goodbye as you passed. Jean was just pulling up your driveway as you walked out the front door, loud music blaring out of his speakers. You jogged up to the passenger side and hopped in, he had turned down the music and twisted in his seat to face you. You tossed your bag into the back seat and turned to face him. Jean reached across the center counsel and cupped your cheek a fond smile on his lips.

"Hey." you giggled, a swarm of butterflies fluttering in your stomach when you noticed that he was staring at your lips.

"Hi." he whispered as he leaned in and pressed his lips to yours. You smiled into the kiss and he rubbed his thumb over your jawline. You brought your own hand up to run over the back of his neck, twisting in the seat to get a better angle in the kiss as you dipped your tongue into his mouth. Jean brushed his tongue along yours, you groaned into his mouth, another dopey smile passing over your features. Suddenly there was a loud thump on your window and you jumped away from Jean with a loud smack as you broke the kiss. You weren't surprised to see Hange with her face pressed against the window and her hands splayed out over the cool glass. The window was now fogged as she breathed heavily onto the glass and you slumped back into your seat, covering your face with a hand. Jean turned to face forward and placed both hands on his wheel in an attempt at innocence. Erwin hovered behind Hange, a frown on his face as he tugged on her shoulder to rip her away from the car. He brought two fingers to his eyes and then pointed them at you in an 'I'm watching you' gesture as he tugged Hange towards his mini van.

"Where are they going?" Jean asked as they walked off.

"Antonio's I think." you answered as you pulled your seat belt on.

"They're really dressed up." Jean noted as he watched Erwin adjust his tie as he held the car door open for Hange. Erwin wore a classy black suit with a black tie, Hange wore a deep purple silk dress that clung to her curves and ended around her mid thigh. You nodded as you watched Erwin shut the door and walk around the car to the drivers side.

"Sure are." you responded as you turned to smile at him. Jean hummed as he shifted the gear to drive and turned around after Erwin pulled out. Jean held his hand out for you which you gladly accepted. Luckily the ride wasn't too long, the town was dark except for the bright light emitting from the Cover Cove. The modest store was a secondhand book shop that doubled as a cafe. The small establishment happened to have a stage in the corner, which they used on the weekends, Fridays was slam poetry night, Saturdays was rock, and Sundays were usually jazz. Jean parked on the street and the two of you quickly gathered your things and hustled into the shop. You had to admit that you didn't come here often, so you were surprised to find out that the shop had managed to purchase the building next to them and knock out the wall to obtain more space. The book shelves that had previously occupied the majority of the space, were now all pushed to one side of the shop to your left. This opened the front of the shop up for seating, an assortment of antique tables and mismatch chairs gave the room a certain flair. The back of the shop was where you ordered drinks or food, a lone barista was manning the counter. You smiled when you recognized Marco, Jean squeezed your bicep as you weaved through the tables to reach the back to order.

"Hey guys how's it going?" Marco chirped as he pumped a syrup into someone's drink.

"Oh not too bad." Jean shrugged as he leaned against the counter, you copied him as you watched Marco finish the order he was working on.

"I didn't know you worked here." you stated with a smile as you watched Marco place the drink on the counter for the customer to retrieve.

"Yeah, it's nothing special I just work weekends." Marco gushed, a blush spreading up his neck and onto his freckled cheeks. Jean scoffed and shook his head at Marco's words.

"Oh come on nobody is crazy enough to only work weekends at a freakin book store." Jean smirked at Marco who rolled his eyes and turned to make another drink.

"At least I'll have some extra cash to spend over the summer." Marco jabbed, a playful smile on his face.

"He's right about that." you agreed with Marco and covered your mouth to hide the smile that was spreading over your face.

"Can't argue with that." Jean smiled at you and gently grabbed your wrist to pull your hand off your face. You looked down sheepishly as Jean rubbed his thumb over your pulse point on your wrist.

"Oh get a room you two." Marco scolded and made shooing motions towards you.

"Can it freckles." Jean chuckled, slipping his hand into your own. The two of you wandered to one the back tables, you draped your coat over the back of the seat and dropped your bag onto the ground. The sound of soft jazz music drifted through the air as the band of older gentlemen played on, the shop was mostly empty except for a few older people who had come to support the small band. Jean watched you pull out your laptop and begin to scroll through emails, he pretended to read his book for English. His eyes were trained on you as you chewed on your lip as you opened an assignment, he noticed how nice your hands looked as you typed, and how your jaw clenched and unclenched as you worked. You paused, lifting your gaze from your laptop and pursing your lips when you caught Jean staring.

"Getting anything done over there?" you mused as he looked down at his book, he shook his head and chuckled.

"No I can't say that I am." he smiled sheepishly as he drummed his fingers on the book.

"Shame." you shrugged and turned your attention back to your work with a smug smile, Jean gasped in mock hurt.

"You could at least give me a hand." Jean huffed as he waved his book in the air. You tilted your head in an attempt to read the cover. Their Eyes Were Watching God a great read, one of your favorites.

"Hm I dunno, if I do it's going to cost ya." you teased as you turned to work on your own homework once more.

"I'll do anything." Jean groaned, he stretched his leg out to brush against your own underneath the table. You kicked his leg in response as you continued to type, Jean sighed and slumped back in his seat. The two of you lingered in the shop until Marco began wiping down tables, sometime around nine o'clock in the evening. You left the shop, promising to come by more as you ducked out into the dark street. Jean and you playfully bumped your shoulders as you walked down the quiet street towards his car, snow crunching underfoot. He opened the door for you and you thanked him. He drove you back to your house, which was already dark, you assumed that your brother was still out with Hange and your mom was probably in bed. Jean parked his car and sighed as he turned to face you.

"Want to come in?" you asked, more out of courtesy than anything. Jean shook his head and tapped his hand against the steering wheel.

"I would but my mom is expecting me.." he blushed as he confessed, you smiled appreciating his honesty. You knew that he was usually embarrassed about his relationship with his mom.

"No that's totally fine, maybe some other time." you smiled as you leaned over to give him a peck on the lips. He smiled and slid his hand up the column of your throat as he kissed you deeper. You pulled back before it could get too spicy, a playful glint in your eye as Jean pouted.

"Another time." Jean agreed, shooting you a dazzling grin. You reached into the back seat for your bag before you opened the door and walked briskly to the house. Once you had entered safely Jean began to pull out, he honked his horn as he disappeared down the drive. You smiled after him and kicked off your shoes. You tiptoed through the house, the dated wood floors creaking under your weight as you crept up the stairs, pausing halfway up. You looked down at the dark living room, the moonlight seeping through the large windows and casting the room in a pale glow. As your eyes scanned over the space you remembered all of the memories that you had in this house, the people that you shared those memories with. But at the end of the day that was all they would be, memories. People change, they grow, that's what life is all about. Every person you meet will eventually slip away and before you know it they are a stranger.

Your stomach flipped when you imagined all the ways that Paris could change Levi. You had seen it before, one of your best friends spent two full months in Switzerland and Italy with her extended family. The girl that you knew, the girl pre Europe, had never tainted her body with alcohol or any other substance. Not that doing so was bad, it just wasn't the kind of person she was, never one to give into such temptations. When she returned at first glance you wouldn't notice the difference. She told stories of the people she had met and the fun day trips she had taken. While over seas she had pierced her bellybutton, it looked good. She had also gone to some parties with her cousins.

When she mentioned the parties it almost seemed as if she had slipped up, her eyes widened and her cheeks flushed. Your friends begged for details, only being freshmen in high school you were all fresh to the party scene. She always came up with a way of changing the subject. You noticed that after the parties were mentioned she would slip into the background of your conversations, folding inward on herself. You hated it, she never did that before. You never found out why she avoided the topic, because only a few months after she returned you and the rest of your friends fully immersed yourselves in the party scene, and she did not follow.

You lost track of her after that year, she went off the grid and moved away, your friends joked that she went back to Italy. You clenched your fist around the banister, bringing you back to the present. That wouldn't happen to Levi, you wouldn't let it. Besides, you were probably just being overdramatic, it was only a month. You let out a shaky breath and continued your climb up the stairs, you felt like a ghost as you wandered down the hall to your door. Once you had reached your room, you slowly closed the door and dropped your bag. You curled your fingers around the hem of your sweater and pulled it over your head. Next you unbuttoned your jeans and shimmied out of them, you fell onto your bed and moaned into your pillow. You glanced at the alarm clock on your nightstand and frowned, it was nearing ten and there was still no sign of Erwin or Hange. Just as soon as the thought had crossed your mind you head the front door open followed by the sound of the couple kicking their shoes off and hanging up their coats. The floorboards creaked as they climbed the stairs, you waited for the sound of Erwin's squeaky door opening, but it didn't come.

"Have you heard from Levi yet?" Hange's voice was soft, almost concerned.

"Yeah actually, just as we were paying he texted me." Erwin's voice sounded heavy with exhaustion.

"That's good." Hange mumbled, you sat up in an attempt to hear more.

"Yeah, I hope that he is able to make a decision after this month." Erwin sighed, the floorboards creaked followed by a dull thump. You knew that Erwin was leaning against the wall, and Hange was probably shifting her weight like she does when she's nervous.

"Me too, I think that this trip will be really good for him." Hange affirmed, the rickety floors creaking loudly as she began to pace. You drug yourself to the edge of the bed, ready to get up and poke your head out the door to ask them what they were talking about. Just as your feet touched the cold ground Hange's pacing stopped.

"Look at me Hange. He will be fine." your brother's voice was firm.

"I know, I just..." Hange sniffled and your own eyes filled with tears.

"I just want to be there for him." she choked out, a tear rolled down your cheek, Hange never cried, especially not over Levi.

"So do I but this is the best way that we can be there for him at this time."Erwin reasoned, Hange sniffled and hiccuped a few times before you heard their footsteps retreat towards Erwin's room and you heard the sound of his door swinging open and then closed. Okay, maybe you weren't being dramatic. You stood up and staggered to your bag where your phone was, you pulled it out and unlocked it with shaky fingers. You tapped on your messages, ignoring Jean's good night text and Armin's asking for your weekly schedule for studying. Mikasa had sent you a recipe, Sasha and Connie had been sending you stupid tik toks all weekend. You typed in Levi's name, his contact popping up immediately. You hesitated, your thumb hovering over the picture of his grumpy face before you opened the message and stared at the blinking cursor. Great now what were you supposed to say.

I miss you

Don't change

How was the flight?

Forget me already?

Has it been a month yet?

You scrunched your nose in disgust as you ran through your options. All of them made you sound like a crazy bitch. You pinched the bridge of your nose and stared at the blank conversation. You usually deleted your messages, not that you had accumulated many messages with Levi anyway. How could you show Levi that you were thinking about him without it sounding too deep? A crude joke? Yes that would do, something to do with shit.

"Hope all this traveling doesn't throw off your bowel movements."

You cringed but still pressed send before you could overthink the message. You shut your phone off and slammed it onto the nightstand, your cheeks flaring with hot embarrassment. You made yourself busy by changing into an old hoodie and sliding underneath the covers. You heard your phone ding but made no move to see who texted you. Tomorrow was Monday and you needed to wake up early, he would have to wait until tomorrow, it was only fair. After all, he was making you wait a whole month. He could wait one night. With that you rolled over and snuggled into your covers, your eyes heavy with sleep which you welcomed gladly.


	8. Spaghetti

You woke up late the next morning, having forgotten to plug in your phone which also functioned as your alarm. Instead Hange had busted into your room and ripped the blankets off of you, exposing you to the chilly air. You yelped and reached blindly for the covers, your mind too foggy with sleep to comprehend how late you were. 

"Rise and shine sleeping beauty." Hange sang as she jostled your shoulder. 

"Wha..." 

"School starts in like thirty minutes come on bust a move." That woke you up. You tossed your legs over the edge and stumbled around your room, pulling on a pair of joggers and a large t shirt. Hange had left once she was sure that you were awake, leaving you alone to get ready. You didn't bother with make up, not that you ever really did. You double checked that you had all of your supplies for school before zipping up your bag and meandered down the steps. Erwin and Hange were already pulling on their shoes by the door, Erwin was wrapping one of his scarves around Hange's neck. You scrunched your nose in disgust at their outright display of affection and shoved your feet into a pair of old sneakers. 

The three of you exited the house, and made a beeline for Erwin's minivan which had been heating up to melt off the frost and snow. The drive was slow and cold, the van was dated so no matter how early Erwin woke up to heat up the car for you, it would always be colder than the Arctic. Erwin also drove like a god damn grandpa in the winter due to the icy roads which didn't help. Finally you made it to school with only five minutes before the bell rang, you bolted into the building, you were in such a hurry that you didn't bother to stomp the snow off your feet as you entered. Which was a mistake because in your hast you lost your footing on the already slick floor, you yelped as you fell flat on your ass. You blinked as you tried to comprehend what had just happened, you were brought back to the present by the sound of boisterous laughter. You turned to glare at Connie and Sasha who where standing to the left munching on a bag of hot cheetos. 

"You should've seen the look on your face!" Connie howled as he slapped his thigh. Sasha giggled and nodded as she wiped cheeto dust on Connie's white shirt while he wasn't watching. You rolled your eyes as you picked yourself up off the floor, you ignored them and pushed forward down the hall. Sasha and Connie trailed after you since they had the same first class as you, making jokes as they went. 

"You know they really should put out those yellow signs, you know the ones with the person falling?" Sasha joked loudly. 

"Yeah I know what you mean, then we could print out a picture of (Y/n)'s face and then stick it on the sign." Connie quipped which lead to the two of them dissolving into another fit of laughter. You ducked into the class room as the minute bell rang weaving through the desks to get to your seat. Armin watched you with wide eyes as you pulled your things out for chem, after your desk was covered in notebooks and pens you topped it off with your phone, which was still dead. The bell rang and then Sasha and Connie staggered in, your teacher shook her head and marked them tardy once again. 

"Did you get my text last night?" Armin asked, eyeing your phone on your desk. 

"Aw no Armin I'm sorry, I didn't charge it last night so it's dead." you apologized as you attempted to organize your cluttered desk. Armin smiled sweetly and nodded, 

"It's all good! I was just wondering what your schedule for this week was and if you wanted to study together again?" Armin explained as he pushed his pencil across his desktop. 

"I'd love to study, Geometry is kicking my ass right now." you moaned, the thought of your math class made your stomach heavy with dread. 

"I can help you with that if you can help me with poem for English." Armin said softly, his blue eyes sparkling with a playful glint. You rolled your eyes you knew that Armin wouldn't need your help with any of his classes, he was just trying to make you feel smarter. 

"Whatever you want baby doll." Armin's face flushed at the pet name that you used for him, you had recently started calling him the nickname due to his doll like features. He averted his gaze to the board where the teacher had written a warm up question on the board to get class started. Instead of working on the problem like a good student, you decided to use the first five minutes of class time to revive your dead phone. You plugged your charger into your laptop and then plugged your phone into the charger, once you saw the tiny lightning bolt you turned your attention to the board. 

__

Chemistry went by uncharacteristically fast, the teacher kept the class busy with a lecture as well as a rowdy game of kahoot in preparation for your midterm. You had no time to check your phone, so it wasn't until you were walking through the hallway with Mikasa and Sasha that you noticed that Levi had responded. According to your phone, he had responded only fifteen minutes after you sent the initial message. 

"My bathroom schedule is none of your concern." 

You smiled at your phone, it may not seem like he was pleased with your text but you knew better. You had come to appreciate Levi's own weird way of showing that he cared, it had been no small feat either. So you decided to interpret his response as "don't worry I'm fine." you shoved your phone back into your pocket and continued to push through the throng of students in the hall. Sasha walked a few paces in front of Mikasa and you, swinging her lunchbox and humming along to whatever song was playing through her ear buds. Mikasa tugged her scarf up over her nose as you passed Eren who waved vaguely in your direction. Your eyes roamed over Mikasa's form, she had recently switched her aesthetic a bit, changing her wardrobe to a more soft goth mixed with grunge. 

Today she wore a green plaid skirt with a belt cinched tightly around her thin waist. She had selected a black turtleneck that clung to her curves with a thick silver necklace with a heart pendant. And of course she wore her red scarf around her neck. You had to admit that it suited her, she looked hot as hell. Sasha on the other hand often dressed in a more causal manner. Today the brunette wore a pair of baggy jeans that hung off her hips, only staying in place because of the shoe lace that she had tied around her waist to function as a belt. Despite the cold weather Sasha wore a tiny pink cami with cute little strawberries on it, she also wore a light pink cardigan over the cami, presumably to prevent herself from being dress coded. Seeing how cute your friends had dressed made you feel embarrassed, you frowned down at your sweatpants and your t shirt that had an ugly bleach stain on the front. You'd do better tomorrow, you thought to yourself as you and Mikasa followed Sasha to your next class, which was World History. 

The three of you arrived just in time, not that it mattered anyway. The history teachers always took their time on Mondays, spending a minimum of at least twenty minutes in the hall chatting about sports. You took your seats in the back of the room, surprisingly Connie and Jean were already seated and arguing quietly. 

"-I don't know that's a bit sus but hey I won't judge." Connie retorted, crossing his arms and averting his gaze while Jean glared at him. 

"What are you guys talking about?" Sasha interrupted as she dropped into her seat next to Connie. Jean's cheeks flushed as he hardened his glare on Connie who waved Sasha off. 

"Oh nothing" Connie winked at Jean who eyed the pair suspiciously, knowing that neither one could keep a secret. 

"Aw ok then." Sasha looked a bit disappointed as she dropped her huge lunchbox down on the desk. 

"Got anything good in there?" Jean sighed, eager to change the subject. 

"Duh you dummy." Sasha scoffed as she opened the bag and began pawing through it's contents. 

"Let me rephrase that: Got anything to spare? I have practice tonight and I didn't pack any snacks." Jean exasperated as he pointed to the lung box. Sasha paused and pursed her lips in thought while Connie poorly covered his laughter. 

"Hmmm what's in it for me?" Sasha hummed thoughtfully as she pulled out a variety of granola bars and fanned them in front of her face tauntingly. 

"I'm giving you the chance to be a good friend that should be enough!" Jean fumed with his eyes locked on the bars. You watched the pair go back in forth as they bartered for the snacks until they finally settled that Jean would be the designated driver for the party this weekend. You watched as Jean stuffed a handful of granola bars in his soccer bag and Sasha opened up another bag of hot cheetos. You giggled and turned to gauge Mikasa's reaction, she had a small smile on her full lips as she jotted down some notes. 

"Speaking of parties, where is the party this weekend?" You asked as you pulled your own notebook out to take some notes. Connie cocked his head, his thin eyebrows furrowing as he stared at you. 

"Your house I thought." Connie remarked as he drummed his pencil against the desk. 

"Oh, I wasn't really planning on hosting but..." 

"No Connie it's at Marco's remember?" Jean stated as he rolled his eyes. 

"My bad." Connie chuckled. 

"Well still I don't think I was invited so I wouldn't want to impose." you admitted. 

"Nonsense! Marco would love to have you over." Sasha assured you as she once again wiped her hand on Connie's sleeve. 

"Yeah Marco wouldn't mind if you tagged along." Connie shrugged, not even noticing that Sasha had left a bright red stain on his sleeve from the cheeto dust. You noticed that Jean looked a bit uncomfortable, the tips of his ears turning a bit pink. Strange, maybe something happened between the two of them. 

"I don't know guys, I really wouldn't want to take advantage of the guy, he seems really nice and I wouldn't want him to think badly of me." you sighed, thinking about the sweet freckled barista. 

"I'll ask him, don't worry about it!" Connie waved you off before he turned back to his work. You nodded, deciding to throw in the towel with this argument. 

____

After history, you went your separate ways with your friends and went to your next class. English was easy enough, your teacher was an older woman who also doubled as the theater director. This meant that she would often assign some busy work at the beginning of the period and turn you loose so she could make preparations for the next production. So once you finished the assignment for today's class you allowed yourself some time on your phone. Levi's message remained unanswered as you ran through all the possible replies. Everything that you thought of didn't seem to fit so you decided to leave it unanswered until you could think of something good. 

__

Levi tapped his foot impatiently as he watched Farlan and Isabel fumbled around the small flat. Farlan was rooting through a bin filled with shoes searching for his loafers. Isabel was standing in front of a small mirror holding up two different pairs of earrings up to her head to see which best matched her outfit. Finally they both found what they were looking for, Farlan slid on his brown loafters and Isabel fastened her hoops to her ears and then they were off. The streets of Paris were dusted in about a foot of snow, which Farlan bitched about due to his poor choice of footwear. 

"Can we please call an uber? My toes are going to fall off!" Farlan complained as he shook snow out of his shoes. Isabel giggled and tossed her scarf over her shoulder. 

"I like the snow." her green eyes sparkled playfully as she teased the older boy. 

"So do I but that doesn't mean I want it between my god damn toes." Farlan hissed as he lifted his other foot to shake out more snow. Levi watched the pair bicker with a certain fondness in his gaze. They had been his first friends and for a time his only family. After his mother died, he was sent to live in an orphanage where he met the odd pair. Even if he was only in the orphanage for two years, he still had come to love the idiots. Thankfully they never lost touch, Farlan had turned 18 in July so he now had custody of Isabel and rented a flat for the both of them. Isabel was still only 16 so technically Farlan was her legal guardian, and so far he seemed to be doing a good job. 

"What do you think Levi, should we call an uber?" Isabel asked, bumping her shoulder into Levi's to grab his attention. 

"We're already almost there." Levi deadpanned as the three of them meandered down the sidewalk. The city was surprisingly busy for a Monday evening, couples walked with arms linked, families were window shopping, and students sat perched on barstools as they drank coffee while they typed away on laptops. Levi couldn't remember much about Paris, at least not this side of the city. He had grown up in the north-eastern district, which was known to be poorer than the central district or southern district. Farlan had managed to get a job at a law firm as an assistant which had allowed him to move himself and Isabel to the central district. Of course Kenny sent Farlan and Isabel a monthly allowance to keep their heads above water, but it was mostly Farlan who had scrounged the money together to move the pair. 

"Then it's settled! We'll walk!" Isabel whooped as she skipped ahead of the two boys. Farlan groaned and shot Levi a disappointed look. 

"Don't look at me like that, you're the idiot that wore loafers." Levi scolded. 

"I hate how you're always right." Farlan chuckled. The trio walked the rest of the way to the restaurant in relative silence. Thankfully the walk wasn't too long, they sat themselves in a booth. A waiter came and took their orders, Levi was slightly taken aback when Farlan ordered a bottle of wine, but he quickly remembered that the legal drinking age in France was 18. The waiter left them to put in their order, Levi took the moment of peace to check his phone. A hand full of texts from Hange, a meme from Erwin, and.... no response from you. 

He frowned as he stared at his own response, looking back at it he wasn't sure how she could respond to that. He mentally kicked himself, for the first time in your odd relationship you showed an interest in him and all he was doing was pushing you away. Levi was so deeply engrossed in his thoughts that he failed to notice that the waiter had already brought them their drinks. Isabel tapped her straw on the table a few times to rip the paper, once the tip of the straw was exposed she lifted the straw to her lips and blew. The paper shot off the straw and hit Levi square in the chin. Farlan snorted and spat his wine back into his glass so he could laugh at Levi's exasperated expression. Isabel howled with laughter, she banged her hand on the table dramatically as Levi frowned at the two of them unimpressed. 

"How old are you?" Levi ridiculed as he stooped to pick up the scrap piece of paper. He balled the trash up and set it down on the table top. Farlan sighed as he finally managed to quell his laughter. 

"Someone has to keep you humble Levi." Farlan teased as he took another sip of wine. Levi reached for the bottle and poured himself a glass, Isabel was drinking a root beer loudly through her straw. Levi sat his phone down on the table as he gave his friends his undivided attention. Isabel told him about her job at a doggy day care where she cleaned kennels and watched dogs. Farlan told him about his superiors and how they told him he would make a good lawyer one day. Levi felt a huge sense of relief as he listened to his friends, he was glad that the two of them were finally making a living for themselves. Levi was politely listening to Farlan rant about one of his annoying coworkers when he noticed that Isabel had grown uncharacteristically quiet. His heart dropped when he saw that Isabel had his phone and was frowning at the screen. Farlan followed his gaze and grew quiet as well. 

"Isabel what do you think you are doing?" Levi enunciated each word, his tone dripping with venom. Isabel looked up at him, her cheeks tinged pink when she realized that she had been caught. 

"Your phone was open and I saw her text..." Isabel trailed off as she turned to show Farlan. Levi slapped his palm over his face and sighed deeply. Farlan whistled lowly as he read the text. 

"Shot her down real quick didn't you Levi." Farlan chuckled as he took another sip of wine. Levi frowned, another wave of guilt washing over him. 

"Didn't mean to." he mumbled as he lifted his glass to his lips. Isabel had already set his phone down and favored her own phone, her eyes were scanning over the screen quickly as she scrolled through her phone. A few minutes of silence passed before Isabel showed Levi her screen, she had pulled up your instagram. 

"This her?" she questioned, Levi only gave her a curt nod as he finished off the wine in his glass. 

"Aw Levi's she's adorable!" Isabel gushed as she scrolled through your page, pausing on one of your more popular posts. A series of pictures of you on a beach towel wearing large sunglasses and a huge sun hat, the quality was amazing. He was sure that Armin took the photo, the kid had a knack for photography. 

"Damn if you don't want her I'll take her." Farlan hummed as he looked over Isabels shoulder. Levi shot Farlan a disapproving glare. 

"What's her number?" Farlan pressed, Isabel choked on her drink as she burst out laughing. 

"Forget about it." Levi hissed as he snatched his phone off the table top. 

"I'm just teasing you Levi." Farlan waved his hand dismissively as he poured another glass of wine. Levi rolled his eyes and let out a grunt, his own version of acknowledging Farlan's good natured jokes. 

"You should call her." Isabel mused as she chewed on her food. Levi furrowed his brows, what would he even say to you? It's not like the two of you casually conversed, he usually only called you if Erwin couldn't reach you, which rarely happened. He glanced at his watch and frowned, if it was eight o'clock here that meant it was about two back home. Therefore you were still in school so he would have to wait until later. 

"That's a dumb idea." Levi monotoned, Isabel rolled her eyes dramatically. 

"No it's not, even if you're just her friend I'm sure she would like to know that she's on your mind!" Isabel insisted enthusiastically, Farlan nodded in agreement as he shoveled a forkful of pasta into his mouth. 

"She's right you know-" Farlan paused as he swallowed his mouthful of food, "not everyone can handle your cold demeanor as well as others." Farlan chided as he lifted another bite to his lips.

"Fine I'll call her." Levi caved in as he stabbed his fork into his salad. Isabel squealed in excitement. 

"This is great Big-bro! I'm so proud of you!" she gushed, her eyes glimmering with adoration. Levi couldn't resist reaching across the table and ruffling her hair affectionately. Dinner ended without any more noteworthy events, Farlan and Levi split the check and then bundled back up to walk back to the flat. 

___ 

You sat at your dining room table staring hopelessly at your geometry homework. A bowl of cold soup sat untouched, you had been too stressed to eat dinner, a habit that you had recently picked up. Erwin and Hange had made dinner so you could get straight to work, which had been very sweet, but you felt guilty because truthfully you had barely made a dent in your assignment. You thought about calling Armin, he would help you. No you couldn't bother him, he was probably doing work of his own. 

So you suffered in silence, the shapes and numbers spinning in your brain the longer you stared at the page. With a frustrated sigh you flipped the page only to see more blank problems that needed to be done. You stood up intending to stretch your legs and take a brain break. After you'd walked around the island in your kitchen three times you came back to the table and dropped down into the chair. You cracked your knuckles before clutching your pencil in a death grip and began to attempt one of the questions. As you scribbled on the page, attempting to make sense of the numbers and letters, you pressed too hard on your pencil and snapped the lead. You watched the tiny piece of lead roll across the page, out of spite you swiped your hand over the page to wipe the lead off. 

Your eyes widened at the large smudge that now marred your paper. It all started with a single tear, it rolled down your cheek and splashed onto your paper. Before you could really understand why, you were absolutely bawling your eyes out at the dining room table. Was it because you were frustrated with school? Yeah that was definitely part of the reason. Before you could spiral into a dark pit of self deprecation, you were rudely interrupted by your phone ringing. You squinted through your bleary eyes to see that it was already 10:30 pm. You sighed, not really caring who was on the other end of the line you answered the phone. 

"What" you blurted, not really in the mood to talk. 

"..." 

"Well? I'm kind of in the middle of something right now." your voice quivered as you fought back tears . 

"Is...this a bad time?" your heart dropped at the sound of Levi's smooth voice. 

"Uh" you sniffled and wiped your eyes. 

"No it's not I can talk, what's the matter Levi?" you asked as you continued to wipe your eyes. 

"Are you sure?" Levi probed, you nodded despite the fact that he couldn't see you. You stood up and began to pace around the kitchen once more. 

"Y-Yeah-" you hiccuped and cringed, Levi sighed on the other end of the line. 

"(Y/n) be honest with me....are you drunk?" Levi interrogated, you gasped it was a Monday night! Did he really think that you were that much of an alcoholic? 

"No! I just...." 

"Hm? What is it?" Levi quipped clearly enjoying your frazzled state. 

"If you must know, I was in the middle of a mental break down." you admitted with a heavy sigh. Levi went silent on the other line, you were beginning to regret your honesty. 

"It's only Monday." Levi cringed at his less than empathetic response. 

"Yeah you're telling me." you chuckled, Levi immediately relaxed at the sound of your laughter even if it wasn't as bubbly as it usually was. 

"What's bothering you?" Levi asked, surprisingly softly. You furrowed your brows surely he didn't call you just to hear about your day? He was probably just being nice. 

"Oh uh... just school I guess." you paused your pacing to drop onto the sofa and kick your feet up onto the coffee table. 

"I see." Levi mused as he reclined in the armchair he was seated in. 

"Anyway, enough about me, why did you call me? Is there something you need?" you asked, you were sure that he didn't want to hear you complain about geometry. 

"It's fine, tell me about your day." Levi grimaced, tell me about your day? Who was he your mother? 

"O-Okay. Well I guess it was fine up until I tried to do this stupid geometry." you grumbled, the mere thought of your homework making your stomach sick with dread. 

"Geometry?" Levi hummed, crossing his leg so his ankle was over his knee. 

"Yeah." you sighed dejectedly, waiting for his scathing remark about how stupid you were. 

"That one can be tough." Levi huffed, you could hear him re-situate so you waited to respond. Once you were sure he was settled you inhaled sharply to prepare yourself. 

"It's just not clicking for me." you groaned, Levi snorted and once again you could hear some shuffling. 

"Want some help?" he asked. You blinked slowly, not fully processing his words. 

"Help?" 

"Take it or leave it." 

"I would be an idiot to decline." 

______

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Levi asked, a playful glint in his grey eyes. 

"It was awful, but I'm grateful for the help." you sighed, resting your head on the table. You'd been on the phone with Levi for almost two hours now. After he had offered to lend you a hand you had switched to facetime so he could see the problems. Levi tapped his pen on the counter top he was sitting at. Yeah you heard that right, Levi does math with a fucking pen like a psychopath. 

"Anytime." his lip twitched upwards ever so slightly. 

"God, I'm sorry that all we talked about was fucking math." you apologized. 

"It's fine really. " Levi shrugged once again tapping his pen on the counter. 

"Tell me about Paris? How are things on the other side of the pond?" you joked, finally able to genuinely smile now that the stress of your homework was lessened. 

"First off, never say 'pond' again. Second, it's cold as a witch's tit over here." Levi enunciated each point by tapping the pen against the counter. 

"Really? Is there snow over there?" You asked, suddenly very invested in the weather in France. 

"Yeah there's a fuck ton." Levi stood up and brought his phone with him to a window. You could tell that he was on a high floor, you could see the lights of the city through the flurries of snow. 

"Woah, it's so pretty!" you gushed as you admired Levi's view. 

"Tch, I guess." Levi clicked his tongue as he flipped the camera back onto his face. 

"Hey what time is it there?" you yawned. 

"Six am." Levi deadpanned. 

"What!! Why did you let me keep you up so late Levi! My god go to bed." you huffed incredulously. Levi rolled his eyes as he listened to you lecture him on the importance of a good nights rest. 

"I mean seriously Levi no wonder why you're always so grumpy." you finished your rant as you closed your bedroom door and began pulling out a pair of flannel pj pants and a large hoodie since your room seemed to be particularly chilly. You dropped your phone onto your bed (camera down obviously) and began to change into your pjs. 

"Don't worry about it sweetheart." Levi drawled, his voice a bit muffled by your comforter. Once you picked up the phone you dropped down onto your bed and sighed. 

"Seriously, I'm just adjusting to the time change." Levi shrugged, he was now in his own room, also laying on the bed a pale morning glow seeping into the room. 

"Uh huh sure." you teased, a smile spreading across your lips. After a moment of silence you decided that it was time to call it a night. 

"Well, unlike you I need my beauty sleep." you said groggily. 

"Good luck with that." Levi scoffed, his own voice a bit scratchy.

"Thanks again Levi. Goodnight or erm, Good morning I guess." you giggled as you watched Levi try to cover up a yawn. 

"Yeah yeah whatever." He scoffed, you waved as you hung up. You rolled over and plugged your phone in, having learned from your past mistake. You sighed contently as you snuggled beneath the covers, your head filled with thoughts of geometry and Levi.


	9. Smirnoff Ice

You bounced your knee impatiently to the beat of the loud party music that was so loud it was vibrating the walls. For the first time in a long while you weren't in the mood to drink. So here you were sitting on a sofa in the middle of a crowded living room on a Saturday night. You were watching Sasha and Connie play a rousing game of beer pong against Bertholdt and Reiner. Annie, the only other sober person at the party, sat to your left scrolling through her phone. The rest of the people at the party were crowded into the kitchen or the basement. You had only been here about an hour and already the majority of the guests were drunk. Mikasa, Armin, and Eren had not yet arrived, you hoped that they would get here soon. Jean and Marco had disappeared about twenty minutes ago, leaving you stranded in the living room. You sighed and looked down at your phone, it was already eleven thirty. Just as you were setting your phone down you got a text. 

"Be there in twenty" Mikasa's text put you at ease, you could survive for twenty more minutes. 

"Okay, drive safe." You shoved your phone back into your pocket and stood up. Maybe you should drink tonight, your week had been stressful your homework load increasing substantially due to the end of the semester approaching. You wandered into the kitchen, pushing past a group of boys to get to the alcohol. You poured yourself a full shot glass of Pink Whitney and knocked the beverage back with ease. 

"I didn't know Erwin's baby sister drank." A voice drawled from your right. You scrunched your nose, still feeling the burn of the alcohol as you turned to see who had addressed you. 

"She does." you grumbled as you reached for a bottle of Smirnoff ice. 

"I'm impressed." now his hand had crept into your line of sight, hungry for your attention. Hoping to deter the stranger you turned and frowned at him. You noted that he was clearly older than you with a shock of light blonde hair atop his head, when you met his eyes you couldn't help but admire his hazel hues as his own gaze took in your appearance. He slowly lifted a red solo cup to his lips and took a sip, his eyes now locked on yours. 

"So, what's your name?" he asked. 

"Thought you knew me." you countered as you lifted your own drink to your lips. 

"I do, just asking out of courtesy." he shrugged, a sly smirk spreading over his face. 

"Fine I'll play along. My name is (Y/n), and yours is?" you scoffed with a dramatic eye roll. 

"Pleasure to meet you miss (Y/n), my name is Colt Grice." the boy said with a light chuckle. 

"So tell me, how exactly do you know my name?" you quizzed, the alcohol making you feel bolder. The boy sighed and glanced up at the ceiling in thought. 

"Hm well let's see...for starters I follow you on instagram. I also went to a football summer camp with your brother once." He answered, flashing you a bright smile. 

"Ah gotcha." you nodded as you took a long sip of your drink. You turned, quickly losing interest in this conversation. 

"Say, where is your brother?" Colt pressed, ah there it was. 

"Out." you answered curtly as you turned to flee. You were shocked to feel a strong hand clasp around your bicep and pull you back. You spun around with full intention of smashing your bottle against this handsy creep. But he caught your wrist, with your hands out of commission he pulled you backwards into a dark hallway. Your eyes felt like they were about to pop out of your head as he pushed you against the wall. 

"What. Are. You. Doing." you hissed a blind sense of rage washing over your senses. 

"Look, just listen okay? I've been trying to get in touch with him for a few days now, I've got some questions for him." Colt's hazel eyes were wide and vulnerable as he begged for your attention once more. 

"Let go of me." 

"Please just ask him to check his instagram DMs, tell him it's important." 

"Fine, let go of me." he dropped his hands and quickly shoved them into the pockets of his joggers.

"Sorry." he mumbled as he kicked the wood floor with the toe of his shoe. 

"Just don't do that again." you snapped as you wrapped your own hand around your wrist, where he had held you. 

"I promise I won't." he looked embarrassed now as he waved his hands in surrender. 

"Good." you eyed him suspiciously as you moved to slip past him. He let you past, you walked briskly back into the kitchen, which was still busy. Just as you turned to wander back into the living room you bumped right into Eren. Thankfully your drink was mostly empty and Eren seemed to have just walked into the room so he was empty handed. His hand grabbed your bicep to steady you, which you were thankful for. 

"Eren, when did you get here?" you asked as he squeezed your arm and smiled down on you. He had recently gone through a huge growth spurt, now standing at 5'9 instead of his previous height of 5'7. 

"I just got here." he answered, still holding you close to him. 

"What about Mikasa and Armin, did they come too?" you asked as you lifted your drink to your lips to finish the bottle. 

"Armin wasn't feeling up for this scene so Mikasa is taking him home." Eren answered as he shifted his weight to prop himself up against the wall, bringing you with him. You grunted as your shoulder hit the wall, Eren let his hand slide down your arm slowly, leaving goosebumps in his wake. It had been quite some time since Eren had been to handsy with you, ever since you had started seeing Jean he had kept his hands to himself. Before you had began talking to Jean, all of your friends predicted that you and Eren would get together.

"Sounds like him." you giggled, craning your neck to peer around his broad shoulders to get a glimpse of the living room. Sasha scampered after a stray ping pong ball, loosing her footing she face planted, the sound of laughter filled the room and you smiled as you watched her snatch the ball and pick herself up. 

"Yeah, I don't think Mikasa is coming back here either..." Eren continued, angling his body to block your view of the living room and redirect your attention back onto him. 

"Really? Why? I was looking forward to seeing her." you pouted as you looked up at Eren. 

"Where's horseface huh?" Eren quizzed, a playful gleam in his striking green eyes. 

"Who knows?" you shrugged, your attention turning back to the counter where all the alcohol was. Eren chuckled and followed your gaze, he nudged you off the wall and the two of you crossed the room to get more booze. You poured out two shots of pineapple Bacardi Eren accepted the shot glass with the most alcohol with a smile. You clinked the glasses together before knocking them back. Eren hissed as he sat the glass down, you coughed and slammed the shot glass down next to Eren's a triumphant grin on your lips. 

"That was some pussy shit huh? " Eren laughed as he licked his lips. 

"Yeah." you agreed. The alcohol left your stomach feeling warm, and your tongue felt numb already. Eren pulled out two more screwdrivers for the two of you and once again grabbed your bicep to drag you down the hall. You were a bit confused but you trusted Eren so you allowed him to guide you through the house, it was clear that he knew his way around. He paused in front of a door to knock, when there was no response he pushed through the door. You realized that Eren had pulled you to a den, a couple of arm chairs and a love seat. The back wall had a huge window with an oak desk. The walls were lines with bookshelves and a large fireplace that radiated heat and light across the cozy room. 

"Why'd you bring me back here?" you asked as Eren dropped down on the love seat. 

"There's something you should know." Eren's eyes turned dark as he leaned forward to prop his elbows on his thighs. 

"Okay I'm listening..." you sank down on one of the arm chairs opposite of Eren, your mind spinning due to the drinks. 

"Jean's cheating on you." Eren stated rather bluntly. You blinked stupidly at him, Jean hadn't even asked you to be his girlfriend yet, and now Eren was accusing him of being a cheater? Nah this reeked. 

"Ha ha very funny Eren." you rolled your eyes and stood up, not wanting to get into this. 

"I'm serious. Connie told me that he saw Jean and Marco kissing in his car after Marco's shift at the cafe." Eren pressed, reaching out to grab your wrist. 

"Marco?" you whispered, everyone knew that Marco was gay, but Jean? Not that it would be a bad thing if Jean was gay but the cheating thing....that was bad. But then again could you say anything after what you had done with Levi? 

"Yeah, I'm sorry but I had to tell you before things got too messy." Eren apologized as he dropped your wrist once he realized you weren't going to run. 

"I mean Jean hadn't even asked me out yet so is that really cheating?" You pondered as you dropped onto the sofa by Eren. 

"I don't think that's any excuse for him to be fooling around with other people while seeing you." Eren shrugged, turning his eyes to the fire instead of your face. You followed his gaze a cloud of sadness was settling above your head as you thought back to every interaction you'd had with Jean. Where had you messed up? When did he decide that you weren't enough for him? You took a long chug from your screwdriver. Eren watched you with a blank expression, his green eyes filled with pity. 

"What should I do Eren." you moaned, dropping your head into your hands as you slumped forward. Eren inhaled sharply as you tried to hold back your tears. 

"Well if it was me...I would confront Jean." Eren answered earnestly. You nodded and blinked away your tears. 

"But how? I honestly wouldn't had known if you hadn't told me." You fretted, sitting up to face Eren once more. Eren brought his hand up to cup his chin in thought.

"Just tell him what I told you." he shrugged, clearly not interested in how this confession would affect his relationship with Jean. 

"But I wouldn't want to make Jean mad at you." you pointed out, Eren scoffed and rolled his eyes at that.

"As if I care about that. Jean and I always make up." Eren replied nonchalantly. You envied him, if only girls could be as simple. 

"Agh this is all too complicated." you groaned and pulled your phone out. You couldn't stay here any longer or else you'd do something you would regret. 

"What are you doing?" Eren asked as he tried to peek at your phone screen. 

"Calling Hange to come pick me up." you mumbled as you scrolled through your contacts. 

"Stay." Eren insisted, once again catching your wrist and demanding your attention. The firelight was casting a warm shadow over Eren's angular features. His teal eyes were shining with determination. 

"I really shouldn't. I don't want to do something I would regret." you sighed as your eyes flickered over his features. He squeezed your wrist and clicked his tongue disapprovingly. 

"Just stay, you don't even have to see that horsefaced jerk." Eren shifted closer to you on the couch, his hand sliding from your wrist and into your own hand. Your mouth fell open in surprise, Eren usually wasn't so clingy, not even when he drank. 

"Eren..." your tone was warning as he brushed his thumb over your knuckles. 

"Don't leave me here all by myself (Y/n)." Eren chuckled as he licked his lips and lifted his gaze from your intertwined hands. 

"Eren I-" you were cut off by the sound of your cell phone ringing. You both turned to see who it was. Eren frowned when he saw Levi's name and contact photo lighting up your screen. You answered the call and lifted the phone to your ear, grateful for the interruption. 

"Hey, hope I didn't wake you." Levi greeted. You smiled at the sound of his velvety voice. 

"No, not at all. I'm actually out right now." You admitted. 

"Really? Where at?" Levi quizzed, you could hear the sounds of water being poured and glasses tinkling. 

"Marco's." you quipped as you shot Eren an apologetic glance. 

"Ah the freckled brat." Levi mused as he dunked his tea bag in the boiling water. 

"Yeah that's Macro." you chuckled nervously. 

"You been drinking?" Levi asked as he allowed his tea to steep. 

"Uhh yeah." you admitted as you rubbed the side of your tingling face. 

"Tch." Levi clicked his tongue in disapproval. 

"Sorry did you need something?" you asked, Levi scoffed once more, you heard him take a sip of his drink before responding. 

"No, I was just....checking up on you." Levi grunted, the last part was spoken softly, so quiet you almost missed it. 

"O-Oh well thank you...I'm fine." your voice came out a bit shaky, Levi frowned at your unsteady tone. 

"You don't sound fine." Levi observed, clearly not in the mood for your bullshit. 

"It's just a bit overwhelming here." You admitted, not really wanting to dump your issues on Levi. Eren still had a firm grip on your hand as you spoke on the phone. 

"Then leave." Levi's blunt response made you smile. 

"I'm trying." you chuckled humorlessly. 

"Call me when you get home." Levi grunted, before you could say anything else he had ended the call. You huffed and pocketed your phone, shooting Eren an apologetic glance before slipping your hand from his grasp. 

"Sorry Eren but I really should go home." you cringed at his disappointed expression, but you knew that you needed to be alone. 

"Text me when you get home." was all the brunette said before he got up and left the room. You took your phone out and texted Hange. 

"Can you drive?" 

"Yeah why?" 

"I need a ride." 

"Where are you?" 

You shared your location with Hange before you also left the room, you had about twenty minutes before she would arrive. So why not knock back another shot? You were relieved to find the kitchen empty because the party had moved into the living room. You leaned against the counter as you retrieved a fresh solo cup and a bottle of Captain Morgan rum the golden liquid sloshed into the cup quickly, you scowled at the large amount of liquor and decided it would go down easier with some coke. You dumped in the soda, filling the cup the rest of the way. You took a long chug before wandering towards the living room. The room was crowded and loud, drunk teens milling about engaged in drunken conversations that they wouldn't remember in the morning. You slid your shoes on undetected and slipped out the front door. You tapped your shoe on the front porch as you looked out at the snowy trees. 

Marco's house was like yours, nestled in a grove of trees with a large lawn. However Marco's house was mostly surrounded with pine trees, which were drooping under the weight of all the snow. You sipped your drink as you looked out at the quiet scenery, you tensed when you heard the sound of someone trudging through the snow. Your breath caught in your throat when you recognized Annie padding through the snow. Her cold eyes were distant, she hadn't noticed you yet. Your eyes were drawn to a small blunt that she had balanced between her slender fingers. She lifted the blunt to her lips and took a short drag. You knew little about the blonde, what you did know was that she had moved to the states from Russia when you were in middle school and that she was good friends with Bertholdt and Reiner. You tilted your head as you watched her blow the smoke out of her nose. Odd, you smiled and took a sip from your cup in an attempt to muster enough courage to talk to Annie. 

"Staring is rude." Her voice echoed off the trees and the side of the house, startling you. 

"Sorry..." you say meekly as you brush some snow off the porch railing. Annie scoffed and kicked a the snow in front of her. 

"What are you doing out here?" you asked in an attempt to fill the silence. 

"What does it look like?" she quipped as she lifted the blunt back to her lips. You chuckled awkwardly and gripped your cup a bit tighter. Annie exhaled another cloud of smoke before dropping the butt of the blunt and stalking over to the porch. She paused when she reached the top step, her eyes roaming shamelessly over you. 

"You look like shit." she commented before she stalked past you and disappeared into the house, leaving you confused. You didn't have long to analyze Annie's cryptic way of conversing before Hange pulled up the driveway. You grabbed your drink and carefully stepped down the stairs and shuffled over Marco's icy driveway. You pulled the door open and climbed inside. 

"Hey sweetie what's wrong?" Hange asked, her brown eyes softer than usual. 

"Hey Hange, sorry to bother you. I guess it's just not my night." you muttered as you fiddled with your scrunchy on your wrist. Hange frowned but turned her attention to backing out of the driveway, throwing her hand over the back of your seat as she turned to check behind her. You relaxed into the seat, your head spinning from the alcohol. 

"Erwin will want to know." Hange broke the silence a few minutes into the drive. 

".....Jean cheated on me." you admitted, knowing that she would only continue to pester you for answers. 

"O....kay." Hange was clearly taken aback by your bluntness. She said nothing as you knocked back the rest of your rum and coke and crushed the plastic cup. 

"It's fine, I was thinking about ending things anyway." you shrugged nonchalantly as you looked out at the snowy scenery. 

"Still..." Hange mumbled as she turned onto your road. 

"You should know, Kenny is over....for dinner with your mom." Hange informed you, carefully choosing her words. 

"Great." you huffed as you brought your knuckle to your lips and took the skin between your teeth. 

".....great?" Hange was thrown off by your standoffish attitude and your indifference to being cheated on and your mother having a man over for dinner. 

"Yeah, I mean this night wouldn't be complete without one more thing turning to shit." you chuckled darkly as you leaned back into your seat. 

"I think that you're drunk and you need to go to bed." Hange said sternly as she pulled into your driveway. 

"Me too." you agreed, your head spinning. You barely registered Hange shutting off the car and rounding the car to help you out and up the stairs into your house. You leaned heavily into Hange as she guided you through the kitchen and up the stairs, not even bothering to take your shoes off. She dropped you onto your bed with a grunt, you felt her tug your shoes off and then your jeans.

" Woah, Hange you're dating Erwin." you state gripping her wrist as she tried to lift the hem of your shirt over your head. 

"Yeah I am now let me put you to bed." she was becoming impatient as she tugged your shirt off the rest of the way. 

"No I....I have to call Levi." you insisted, your hand reaching for Hange's in an attempt to keep yourself grounded. 

"No that's not a good idea sweetie." Hange frowned as she took your hand and helped you under the covers. 

"Yes it is. He told me to call him when I got home." you stated as you tried to sit up to find your phone. 

"You can call him in the morning.... not that you'll remember much of this anyway." Hange muttered the last part as she watched you pat your sheets down. 

"Please Hange." you pleaded as you pawed around your messy bed. 

"No (Y/n) just go to bed." Hange scolded as she stood up, subtly slipping your phone into her pocket. You whimpered as you leaned back into your pillows. 

"What if he stops talking to me? We just started being friends Hange I don't want him to leave me." you whined as you gave Hange puppy dog eyes. Hange frowned, not sure who exactly you were referring to. 

"Just....go to sleep." Hange sighed as she stood and crossed the room, pausing at the door as she flicked the light off. You sniffled and rolled over with a sigh of defeat, Hange's shoulders sagged with relief when you stilled and your breathing became steady. As soon as she shut the door she felt your phone buzz, she pulled it from her pocket and unlocked it. 

"Did you make it?" 

Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Levi's message. So you weren't lying about Levi wanting you to call him. How odd, Hange pursed her lips as she scrolled through your previous messages. Her eyes widened when she realized how many messages the two of you had shared over the past two weeks. What made Levi want to get so chummy with you all the sudden? She ducked into Erwin's room, Erwin rolled over in bed and sat up to see what all the ruckus was about. 

"How is she?" Erwin yawned as he watched Hange pull the covers back and slip underneath them. 

"Eh she's been better, but get this! Levi's been texting her, can you believe that?" Hange squawked as she held your phone up for Erwin to see. 

"Huh that's weird." Erwin mused as he took the phone and scrolled through at his leisure. 

"I know! I'm so proud of them, I knew that one day they would look past their differences!" Hange giggled as she took the phone back and plugged it in. 

"Yeah that's a relief, hopefully they can be civil when he comes back." Erwin sighed as he rubbed a hand down his face as he reclined back into his pillows. Hange rolled over and pulled the covers up over her shoulders. 

"Hopefully." Hange yawned, Erwin reached up and flicked off the lamp. 

"Only time will tell." Erwin commented as he pulled Hange flush against him and nuzzled his nose into her shoulder. 

______

Levi frowned at his phone, you still hadn't called or texted him. He hoped that you had made it safely back to your place, he would certainly scold you in the morning for failing to communicate with him. He sighed heavily and reached to pour himself a fresh cup of tea, the sun was casting soft morning rays across the kitchen. He dunked in a fresh tea bag, leaning heavily on the counter, although he had already spent a full two weeks in France, his body was still struggling to adjust to the time change. Not that he got much sleep when his body was in sync with the time zone anyway. He assumed that you had managed to get a decent amount of sleep since you had stopped responding to his texts and snaps around one am your time. He frowned, catching himself thinking about you for what felt like the millionth time within the past couple of weeks. He had fallen into a strange rut, thoughts of you running rampant in his mind. He found himself wondering what you were wearing, who you were with, what were you thinking about? 

Did you think about him they way he thought of you? Probably not, why should you? He was puzzled on his sudden infatuation with his best friends younger sister. At first he figured it was textbook lust, but now he was doubting that. He had lusted after others before you, but none had held his attention for so long. He scoffed at the thought, of course he would become attached to the very person who had been a thorn in his side for the past six years. Someone who he'd had honestly, little to no interest in until he was supposed to leave the fucking country. 

"Bit early to look so angsty don't you think?" Farlan hummed as he padded into the kitchen still in his pajamas. Levi simply clicked his tongue and took a long sip of his tea. 

"I'm not angsty, it's called thinking, you should really try it some time." Levi jabbed as he watched Farlan shuffle around the kitchen as he went about making breakfast and brewing a pot of coffee. Farlan snorted at his response, pleased with Levi's snarky attitude. 

"I was thinking that we could visit campus today? Maybe grab a beer." Farlan offered as he cracked an egg into a pan. 

"Hm." Levi hummed as he stared into his dark beverage. 

"You might like it, maybe enough to stay and study?" Farlan smirked as he turned to see his friend engrossed in his tea. 

"Maybe." Levi agreed, images of him sitting in a lecture hall, of him up late flipping through a textbook, sitting in a cafe with an open laptop. It was a bit disturbing how easy it was to imagine a life away from his friends, away from you. He frowned, suddenly it didn't seem so glamorous, in fact it seemed lonely. But necessary, once he finished his degree he could come home, to you, to his friends. He had made a promise after all.


	10. Hawaiian Pizza

The loud buzzing of the tattoo gun was beginning to annoy Levi. The little pricks less annoying than the drone of the machine. He winced as the needle skimmed over a sensitive bit of skin. 

"Try not to flinch." Farlan scolded as he readjusted his grip. 

"Tch, sorry." Levi apologized through gritted teeth. Farlan reached for a wipe to clean off the excess ink, revealing the nearly finished piece. Like his other tattoos, this one was no different, the design was drawn out in thin delicate lines of ink. He had chosen to get this one on his tricep. Farlan spun his chair around to show Levi the design in the mirror, a flower, more specifically a lily of the valley. More specific yet, the flower for the month of May, the month his mother was born. 

He nodded in appreciation a she admired the thin stem that led up to delicate bell shaped petals. The stems faded into a two leaves at the base of the design, they were all that needed to be filled in before the piece was complete. 

"It looks good." Levi mused as he stared at the aggravated skin, the black lines were outlined with red angry skin. 

"Thanks, I must admit I'm a bit rusty." Farlan chuckled as he leaned in with another wipe to clean the tattoo. 

"Could've fooled me." Levi muttered as he turned in his chair to give Farlan better access. 

"Let me finish this up and then we can go grab some lunch." Farlan gave the tattoo one last wipe down before he wrapped it in sandiderm. Once he was pleased with his work he tugged off the gloves and tossed them into the trash. 

"Sounds good." Levi grunted as he stood up from the chair. Farlan had picked up tattooing as a side hustle, not that he booked many clients. It was more of a hobby for him, but he was rather good at it. As Farlan cleaned up the equipment and packed it back into his bag Levi went into the bathroom to wash up before they left for lunch. Isabel was out with friends, she hadn't been particularly interested in visiting the University with Levi and Farlan. 

____

Levi trailed a few paces behind Farlan as they wondered through the sprawling campus. The campus had a dark academic vibe to it, with all the gothic architecture and the snowy lawns. Levi's trip was coming to a close, and he was glad that he had managed to squeeze in the visit. He spoke to an advisor, who was very enthusiastic about him applying. He figured that him coming from a single parent home, being an orphan with dual citizenship and good grades probably looked good for their statistics. So Levi and Farlan left, packets of information that they would need to apply. He decided that he should give Erwin a call, since he would be coming back home on the 26th, he originally intended on coming back after the new year but Hange had convinced him to come back early. Of course it was intended to be a surprise for Erwin and (Y/n), he felt bad for leaving Farlan and Isabel early but he figured that he could make up for the lost time when he got accepted into the University. They would have him all to themselves for four years if everything went according to plan. 

"This place looks as good as any." Farlan paused in front of a small pub not too far from campus. Levi shrugged and kicked a chunk of ice out of his way. Farlan held the door open for him as they ducked into the dimly lit bar. The two settled into the barstools facing an impressive stock of alcohol, since it was about three in the afternoon the bar was basically empty save for a scraggly old dude that was mumbling to himself in a booth. 

"Come here often?" Levi huffed as he inspected the sticky bar top. Farlan chuckled and waved for the bar tender. 

"No actually, but I've heard that it's popular with the uni students." Faralan explained as he waited for the bar tender to finish counting the money in his hands. 

"Two gin and tonics please." Farlan asked politely, the bar tender nodded and began to make the drinks. 

"So you leave in what five days?" Farlan asked as he grabbed his drink and took a long swig. 

"Yeah, sorry it was kind of last minute." Levi apologized, Farlan waved him off dismissively. 

"Wait what did you get Isabel for Christmas this year?" Farlan asked as he slammed his already drained glass onto the counter. 

"I bought her the DVD set for that one show she likes." Levi answered as he nursed his gin and tonic. 

"Ah no way! That's a good one! The veterinary show right?" Farlan gushed, clearly impressed with Levi's choice of gift. 

"Yeah that's the one." Levi nodded, a small smirk spreading across his lips. 

"She'll love that. I got her some new jeans and a stuffed animal." Farlan shrugged, as he motioned for another drink. 

"Not the shittiest choice." Levi mumbled as he brought his glass to his lips. 

"Thank you Levi." Farlan held his glass up for a toast, and Levi indulged him, gently tapping his glass against Farlan's. Levi knocked back the rest of his drink before pulling out his phone to check his messages. 

"What time should I pick you up from the airport?" Levi pursed his lips in thought before responding to Hange's text. 

"Six in the morning." he typed his response quickly and sent it. He had already planned on arriving early to give himself plenty of time to prepare himself for the annual post Christmas party that your family hosted. 

"See you then, don't have too much fun in France!" Hange's reply was instantaneous, Levi hated to admit it but he missed four-eyes and bushy brows. Hell he even missed Erwin's bratty sister. 

_____

You draped your arm over your eyes in a feeble attempt to block out the blinding light that was flooding your living room. Although the snow was pretty, it sure was a bitch when the sun hit it, causing the light to reflect sharply in through the large windows in your living room. It was finally Christmas break, and you were enjoying it to it's fullest, basking in your sweats on the couch. Your mom had just gotten back from grocery shopping and was beginning to set out ingredients for the baking that she had planned to do for the rest of the afternoon. Erwin and Hange had gone ice skating with Mike and Nanaba, and planned to all meet up back at your house to assist your mom with the seasonal baking. Your phone chimed on the coffee table and you stretched to check it. 

"Coffee and chill? 🥺" You rolled your eyes at Jean's message. He had been trying to contact you relentlessly for the past week. You had evaded him, not quite ready to confront him about his wrong doings. You ignored his text and instead favored to ask Mikasa if she wanted to come over to bake. 

"hey I know it's been a while, but want to come over to bake cookies with me today? You could bring Armin and Eren if you want!" You sighed and dropped your phone back down onto the table with a sigh. You were pleasantly surprised by how quickly she responded. 

"What time?"

"an hour?" 

"See you then :)" You smiled at the screen as you read her response. You always thought it was cute how she preferred to use characters instead of emojis when she texted. You decided that a shower would be a good idea since so many people were coming over now, so you hustled up stairs. You were thankful that Hange and Erwin weren't home because they had made a habit of interrupting your showers. Whether it was Hange trying to join you in the shower to "save water" or Erwin coming in to take a massive dump while you were in the shower. So you fully took advantage of your uninterrupted shower time while you could. You took your time, washing your hair and the rest of your body and enjoying the hot water. By the time you were finished the bathroom was cloudy with steam from the hot shower. You wrapped yourself in towel and scurried to your room to change. You pulled on a pair of leggings and a cropped fitted turtleneck. You then proceeded to tug on a faded crew neck to complete the look. You loped down the stairs, but paused about half way down. The sound of shoes being toed off and a coat being hung up made you rethink your decision. 

"Oh Kenny! I'm so glad you made it!" Your mom gushed and you bristled. It wasn't that you didn't like Kenny, it was just that you weren't expecting him. It seemed that your house needed to keep an Ackerman on hand at all times because as soon as Levi left Mikasa and Kenny began coming around more frequently. Your mom invited Kenny over for coffee on Sunday mornings and you invited Mikasa over for sleepovers and craft nights. 

"Hey sorry I'm late, I brought booze though." Kenny's rough voice felt foreign to your ears. Despite his sudden presence at your house he still felt like a stranger to you. Of course you could only blame yourself here, you tried your best to avoid him and his questions, not sure how you felt about the gruff man. He seemed nice enough but you weren't quick to trust him, Erwin certainly wasn't either. 

"Ah (Y/n)! Perfect timing! Come down stairs and say hello." your mom called out, you winced but obeyed, descending the last few steps. 

"Hey there kiddo, how's it hangin'?" Kenny drawled as you slunk into the kitchen sheepishly. 

"Hey Kenny, I'm good how are you?" You asked politely, aiming to please your mother more than Kenny. The man smiled triumphantly and leaned further back into his seat. 

"I'm fantastic." he stated with a smug smirk plastered on his lips. 

"Mom, I invited Mikasa, Amrin, and Eren over is that alright?" you asked, dismissing Kenny. 

"Yeah of course baby, the more the merrier!" she cooed as she continued to set up the mixer and prop up the cook book. 

"So my little niece will be joining us tonight?" Kenny affirmed as he stood to help your mother untangle to cord of the mixer. 

"Yeah." you trailed off, not sure if this was good or bad. Although the pair had both been frequenting your house recently, they hadn't run into one another yet. You knew that Levi had a bad relationship with his uncle, so you could only assume that Mikasa's relationship was also just as rocky. 

"haven't seen that brat since she was in diapers." Kenny mused as he flipped through the cook book. 

"really? Well she sure has grown. Such a lovely young woman." Your mother sighed dreamily as she thought about Mikasa. 

"Glad to hear it.." Kenny mumbled as he paused on a gingerbread recipe. Before you could decode the meaning behind his bland tone, the door flew open and Hange sauntered in. Today she was dressed for the weather in a downy parka and leggings with a thick crewneck. Erwin followed close behind, dressed in joggers and a t-shirt, he tended to get hot easily. Mike however was different. Mike was dressed for Arctic temperatures with a thick quarter zip underneath his north face and a pair of denim jeans on his legs. Nanaba wore a quarter zip as well but leggings instead of jeans. You rushed to help them shove their coats into the cramped closet and put snowy shoes over vents to melt off the ice. Soon they were all crowding into the kitchen, Mike was quick to help your mom set out ingredients while Erwin went to light the fireplace. Hange was rushing up the stairs and Nanaba was skimming through the cook book. 

Ah yes such a familiar scene. You immediately felt better in the presence of the upperclassmen, Kenny seemed to melt into the background as he watched you all fall into a familiar rhythm. Erwin returned to the kitchen, dusting his hands off as he entered. 

"Hey." He greeted you with a slight nod before he stooped to pull a baking sheet out of the cabinets. 

"How was ice skating?" you asked as you leaned against the counter near Erwin. 

"Cold, we saw Petra and Oluo there." Erwin mused as he sat the sheet down with a clatter. 

"Really? Are they a thing?" you quizzed, your interest piqued. 

"Couldn't say, wouldn't surprise me though." Erwin shrugged, his large frame pressed against the counter opposite to allow Nanaba to squeeze through. 

"I don't know Erwin, last time I spoke to her she seemed pretty fixed on Levi." Nanaba interjected as she stooped to pull out a bowl. 

"I thought she was over him. He left her hanging at my house a few months back remember?" Mike reminded Nanaba who pursed her lips in thought. 

"Oh yeah I remember that...she was upset." Nanaba agreed as she sat the bowl in front of you on the counter. 

"Then why was she with Oluo huh riddle me that." Erwin challenged, a sly smirk on his lips. 

"Oh they've always been close, doesn't mean she likes him or anything." Nanaba scoffed. 

"Well he sure likes her, saw him checking out her ass." Mike chuckled, your mom gasped and hit him upside the head. 

"That's enough you guys! (Y/n), Kenny mix cut this butter up." Your mom ordered, grabbing you by the bicep to drag you over to Kenny at the island. She dropped a huge brick of butter in front of the two of you along with two butter knives. 

"Oh I can do it on my own mom." you insisted with wide eyes. 

"Nonsense, show Kenny how it's done." she slapped you on the back and turned to help Mike crack eggs into the wet ingredients bowl. You and Kenny shared an uneasy glance, you took the knife and sliced the chunk of butter in half. You slid half to Kenny and took the other half for yourself. You began to slice the butter into thin chunks and drop them into a bowl. Kenny watched with raised brows, the knife hanging loosely in his hand. You spared him a glance and an amused huff. 

"Just slice it into chunks and drop them in this bowl." you instructed, pushing the bowl closer to him. He chuckled and then began to tediously cut the butter into uneven chunks. You nodded in approval as he began to gain confidence. 

"Where does this go once it's done?" Kenny asked as he finished chopping the butter. 

"In the mixer." You directed, as you wiped your hands on a damp rag. The doorbell chimed and you weaved through the kitchen to answer it. You were greeted by the familiar faces of Mikasa, Armin, and Eren. The trio piled into the house and kicked off their shoes and shrugged off jackets. 

"Perfect timing guys, we just started making cookies." You said as you helped Armin out of his coat. 

"Great! We brought our piping tips." Eren said, holding up a plastic bag filled with piping equipment. 

"Oh yeah I forgot that you're a natural at cookie decorating Mikasa!" you complimented as you guided them into the kitchen. You placed the bag next to Kenny who was staring at Mikasa with slightly widened eyes, she returned his gaze with a surprised expression. 

"Hey hothead!" Hange called out to Eren in a sing song voice as she descended the stairs. 

"O-Oh Hange!" Eren cringed at her volume as she swang into the kitchen. 

"Hange!" Armin cried out excitedly, you'd known that Armin looked up to the brunette due to her intelligence. 

"Aw hello coconut head." she cooed as she ruffled Armin's blonde mop of hair. 

"And baby Ackerman!" Hange giggles, turning her attention to Mikasa who was scowling at the brunette. 

"So nice to see you all!" Hange gushed as she pulled on an apron. 

"That was an awful long shit. You constipated or something?" Mike scoffed as he whisked the eggs. 

"Ha ha very funny Mike." Hange scoffed as she sidled up next to Erwin who was crushing almonds loudly with a rolling pin. 

"I'm just trying to pick up the slack. Someone needs to make Levi's crass jokes for him." Mike sighed, setting the whisk aside. 

"Ah I'm sure he will appreciate the sentiment." Erwin approved with a chuckle and another jaw-rattling smash of the rolling pin. 

"Kids why don't you start rolling this dough out and cut them with these." Your mother instructed as she thrust the large mixing bowl into your hands and pointing over to Kenny. You led Mikasa, Armin, and Eren over to the open counter space. Mikasa was side eyeing Kenny as she sprinkled some flour out. 

"I want to make a penis." Eren remarked, a stupid look on his face as he looked to Armin for approval. 

"That's inappropriate Eren." Armin chided as he reached for the dough in the bowl. He dropped the heavy ball of dough with a thump and a whoosh of flour. 

"Hah! I'd like to see it!" Kenny chortled as he brushed some flour off his shirt. 

"See he gets me!" Eren chuckled as Armin began to roll out the dough. Mikasa and you both rolled your eyes at the boys. Nanaba breezed by and brushed her hand across both yours and Mikasa's shoulders as she passed. 

"You girls want pizza?" She asked with an angelic smile as she stopped by the landline. 

"Yes please!" Eren answered before either of you could.

"Shut up Eren!" You snapped before turning to look at Nanaba who was holding the phone up to her ear already. 

"Yes please Nanaba, can you put pineapple on one of them?" you asked with a sweet smile. 

"Ew pineapple on pizza are you insane?!" Hange screeched from across the kitchen. 

"Now now, if you order one with pineapple I'll eat it." Kenny agreed as he pressed a cookie cutter deep into the dough. 

"Ugh, you guys are disgusting." Mike shook his head in disappointment as he poured the liquid ingredients into the dry ones for the next batch of cookies. 

"Alright everyone be quiet while I order this." Nanaba ordered as she pressed the phone between her ear so she could jot down the orders on a pad of paper. The volume in the kitchen fell from a roar to a soft murmur as Nanaba placed the order. Once Nanaba hung up the phone the bustle picked right back up. The cookie hustle only stopped once all the dough was in the oven and the pizza had arrived. 

When it was all said and done you all settled in the living room to watch christmas movies and eat pizza. As the movie began to play you finally took some time to check your phone for the first time all afternoon. You were surprised to see at least twenty messages on instagram from a swagmasterfarlan. You clicked on the first message and your frown deepened. 

"cutte assf." 

"Let me show you parish" 

"I cantreat you right." 

":)" 

The seventeen other messages followed a similar pattern. You noticed that the last message that had been sent two hours ago. You glanced at the clock and frowned, it was already eight pm. You considered blocking the account but upon checking, you realized that it was Farlan's side account. You'd seen drunk texts before and these were no different. You glanced up to see Kenny with his hat over his eyes as he snored on the arm chair. Your mom was already dozing off on the couch with her feet in Erwin's lap, Erwin had an arm around Hange who was babbling about special effects to no one in particular. Nanaba and Mike were in their own little world on the floor as they watched the movie. Eren and Armin were joking in hushed voices as Mikasa's head lolled against your shoulder. Yeah you could use some entertainment. 

"I would love to see parish." you smiled at your response as you sent it. Not two minutes later a new message appeared. 

"Woh, I'm durnk as shit." 

"yes you are swagmaster ;)" you responded with a giggle. 

"Let facetime before levi punches my face." Farlan's words were becoming clearer so you figured that he must be sobering up to some degree. 

"Alright." as soon as the read receipts confirmed that he had gotten the message your phone buzzed as he called you. Mikasa grunted as you shifted to answer the call, you answered on the third ring, thankful for the darkness in the room which concealed your features for the most part. 

"Heyyyyy kid!" Farlan drawled, you could tell he was in his apartment, the surroundings familiar due to the times you had facetimed Levi. 

"Hey Farlan, nice to finally meet you. I've heard all kinds of things." You chuckled as he squinted at his screen. 

"No kidding! Hey what time is it over there?" Farlan questioned as he brought his phone closer to his face, giving you a perfect view of his eyebrows. 

"It's about 8:30 here, what time is it in perish?" You mocked his blunder from earlier and he gasped in offense. 

"That's cold!" he moaned, playing along with your joke. 

"Spell it right next time!" you snickered, you glanced up from your phone and met Hange's curious gaze, her head tilted to the left. When you returned your attention back to your phone you were surprised to see the camera was no longer on Farlan's face. Instead it was spinning, the sound of grunting and shuffling was deafening. You winced the struggle continues for a few moments before there was a thud and a deep groan. 

"Get into bed now before I punch your lights out." Levi's voice was gravely and strained with exhaustion as he spoke. Hange's ears were still perked as she tried to figure out who you were on the phone with. Once she heard Levi's voice she stood up and skipped over to the sofa to sit next to you. 

"I'm serious Farlan this isn't cute get the fuck in that bed or so help me-" the phone clattered down to the floor, and you could make out the sound of stumbling footsteps. 

"What is going on?" Hange asked as she leaned on your free shoulder to see the screen. You shrugged and bit your lip as you tried to decipher what was going on. 

"No Levi, I've got to talk to her, she's still on the phone!" Farlan grumbled, his voice sounded a bit far away. 

"You can talk to her tomorrow just go lay down already." just by the tone of his voice you could guess that he was pinching the bridge of his nose the way he did when he was frustrated. 

"nah I'll just go grab my phone and-" 

"No." the sound of bed springs creaking and Farlan grunting hinted that he had been pushed onto a bed. After a few more moments of the bed creaking and incoherent mumbling, the sound of footsteps approached the phone and then finally the camera was turned back towards the ceiling as it was picked up. And then Levi's face filled the screen, his eyes widened in surprise, you snapped a screenshot of the moment much to his displeasure. 

"What the fuck." he huffed as he took in both you and Hange's amused expressions. 

"Hey Levi! How's it going?" Hange cooed as she angled your wrist to show more of her face. 

"How-" 

"He called me." You answered quickly as you angled the phone back onto your face. 

"why?" Levi interrogated. You simply shrugged as you took in his face. You were relieved to see that he looked the same, maybe his eye bags were a bit darker, and his hair a tad longer. But otherwise, he was the same. 

"What are you doing?" Levi continued to grill you, to answer his question you panned the camera around the room, sure to not linger on Kenny who was snoring in the chair across the room. 

"Thrilling." he scoffed when you brought the camera back to your face. 

"Yeah, we spent the day baking. What about you? Seems like you guys are busy." You began your own interrogation. 

"Yeah, Farlan had one too many at the bar." Levi agreed as he dropped down into an arm chair with a heavy sigh. 

"And you? Did you have anything to drink?" Hange asked with a sly smirk. Levi's brow creased at her suggestive tone. 

"If you must know, no I did not drink.... a lot." he answered. 

"Lucky, I wish I was drunk right now." you sighed wistfully. 

"I never said I was drunk." Levi clarified. 

"Any big plans for your birthday Levi?" You asked, quick to change the subject. 

"No, just dinner and gifts." Levi replied with a shrug as he sank into the chair. 

"That sounds nice." you smiled, Hange dropped her head to your shoulder, her chin digging into your shoulder as she did so. Levi shrugged and averted his gaze for a moment. 

"Where's Isabel?" Hange asked as here eyes scanned the background, which was too dark to really reveal anything. 

"In her room playing some stupid video game." Levi scoffed as he cocked his head in the direction which you assumed Isabel's room was. 

"Fun." Hange mused as she closed her eyes. 

"And you? What are your plans for Christmas?" Levi's question surprised you, but you still answered. 

"Same as always, gifts in the morning, breakfast, hopefully be plastered by 2." you sighed, Levi scoffed at your answer but seemed satisfied. 

"What about the 26th?" Levi asked carefully. you pursed your lips as you thought about your schedule. 

"Hmm well I'm not sure, probably-" 

"Oh I forgot to tell you, Annie is hosting a party and asked me if you'd come." Mikasa's sleepy voice startled you. 

"Really? Huh that's weird. Are you going?" you asked, tilting your face down to speak to her. 

"Yeah. We're smoking weed." Mikasa mumbled, her eyes still shut. 

"Guess I'll go too." you shrugged. Meanwhile Hange and Levi shared a wide-eyed glance, this could throw off their plans. More specifically Hange's plans, even more specifically her plan to set you and Levi up. 

"Weed?" Levi asked, clearing his throat after the word fell from his lips. You knew that he had smoked the stuff in the past, but recently he had stuck to his juul and the occasional dab pen. 

"yeah, Annie has like 30 grams right now." Mikasa answered. 

"I've never smoked weed before." you mused, excitement bubbling up in your chest at the thought of the chance for a new experience. 

"Eh it's okay." Mikasa shrugged. 

"Guess I'll just have to try it for myself." you teased, nudging her with your shoulder. 

"Guess you will." Mikasa mumbled before falling silent once more. 

"Well there you have it. I'm going to Annie's on the 26th." you smiled as you answered Levi's original question. With the 26th only three days away, it gave you something to look forward to. 

"Fine. Do what you want." Levi rolled his eyes and stood from his chair, his whole vibe seemed to change. You wondered if it had been something you'd said or if he was just growing bored. 

"I've got to go. Farlan's phone is almost dead." Levi said as he walked through the apartment. 

"Oh well it was nice-" before you could finish he had already hung up, or the phone had died. 

"Classic Levi." Hange chuckled as she rose up, stretching her stiff muscles before returning to Erwin's side. You rolled your eyes and sat your phone down in defeat. You reached behind you for a throw blanket to cover you and Mikasa, you shuffled over a bit so you were snuggled between the arm of the couch and Mikasa, who had followed you. Using the arm as a pillow you lied down as much as you could with Mikasa still using your side as a pillow, she had stretched out as well to prop her feet up in Eren's lap. Eren was already passed out, his head leaning against Armin's shoulder, who was in a similar position to you. It was nice, you hadn't made much time for nights like these recently. Since you had spent most of your time with Jean you had neglected your friends, and you felt awful about it. 

You had missed them deeply, in fact this had probably been the longest you'd gone without a weekend like this. Your family had been close to the Jeagers since you were babies. Your mom and Dr. Jeager both worked at the same hospital and often worked together, they had only grown closer when your father died of cancer when you were 9. Grisha and Carla had helped your mother our a lot the months following his death. Meaning you spent a lot of time with Eren and Mikasa, and by extension Armin. That same year was when they took in Mikasa since Kenny had been deemed "unfit" for a second child in his care. You assumed that the Jeagers would be coming over for Lunch like they always did on Christmas, as well as Armin and his grandfather. You felt your eyelids grow heavy as you thought about all the preparations that were needed for you to host this year, and before you knew it you had fallen asleep.


	11. Pink Whitney

The next few days flew by in a snowy blur. Most of your time was spent wrapping gifts and packaging baked goods to deliver to family friends. You grunted as you leaned heavily on top of the Tupperware container as you shoved in more sugar cookies. This particular batch was going to Erwin's coach and his family. The sound of wrapping paper tearing made you cringe, turning around you saw Hange holding up the two uneven lengths of paper. She smiled sheepishly at you before shrugging and taping the pieces together once more. Your mom and Erwin were currently out shopping at the mall, which was a good hour away from the hick town you lived in. 

You and Hange had already been out shopping the other day. It had been very stressful shopping for all your friends and family. You were glad to have gotten the ordeal over with. Although it was stressful, you had enjoyed picking out the perfect gift for your loved ones. Some highlights included: a camera lense for Armin, a set of chain necklaces for Mikasa, a turkey hat for Sasha, a safari hat for Connie, and your personal favorite was a set of fancy tea cups for Levi. 

You really had outdone yourself this year, even going as far as buying Erwin supplies that he would need for College. For Hange you had purchased her a fresh set of glassware for her experiments, since she was majoring in Chemistry and enjoyed doing work outside of the classroom you thought it was a fitting gift. Hange held up her finished product proudly, judging by the size of the box you guessed it was a pair of shoes. 

"I can't wait to give these to him!" she gushed as she set the box to the side and began folding a sweater that the two of you had purchased for your mom. 

"Yeah I'm sure he'll love them." you agreed. You weren't the only one who had splurged this year. Hange had bought Erwin a fresh pair of cleats for his freshman season at college. 

"I hope so!" she chuckled as she boxed the sweater and the pair of earrings for your mom. 

"What did you ask for this year?" you asked as you set the stuffed container of cookies to the side. 

"Oh nothing special." Hange waved her hand dismissively. You weren't surprised, she wasn't exactly interested in possessions. She valued knowledge above most things, so the closest you could get to filling that need was to give her books or items that helped her learn and shit. You had learned that the hard way, a few years ago you had given her a nice bracelet, which was currently collecting dust on her dresser. 

"Well what about your parents, are they doing something special this year?" you inquired, you knew that she had learned to appreciate knowledge from them. They used to go on trips and spend Christmas soaking up the culture of wherever they went. One of their most notable trips was to South America, Hange's favorite trip to date. They hiked in the jungle and learned about the environment and shit. 

"Aw sadly no, they wanted to take a break and focus on their research here." She shrugged as she wrapped the box in snowman wrapping paper. 

"Really?" you mused, although Hange's family was unconventional you admired their free spirit. 

"Yeah, I'm particularly interested in my mom's project, she's studying these penguins in South America right now-" she continued to ramble on about her mother's studies and her father's work. Both of her parents were very active in the zoology community. Hange's rant was cut short by the sound of her phone ringing, she apologized before answering the call, walking out of the room for some privacy. Which you thought was odd, she usually wasn't so private with her phone calls, which at times could be annoying. You brushed it off as most likely being a conversation about gifts. You picked up your phone, taking the opportunity to answer the text that Mikasa had sent you earlier that morning. 

"We'll be over around 7." her text made you feel giddy with excitement. Although this year would be a bit different you were still excited to see all your friends. 

"See you soon!" you responded, you realized that it was probably a good idea to start dinner for your mom. She should be home any minute but still you set about preheating the oven for the casserole and the ham. Thankfully the Jeagers brought dishes as well, Carla made a mean pumpkin pie. You weren't expecting Kenny to bring anything other than booze. You fell into an easy rhythm as you prepared the vegetable casserole. It couldn't have been more than an hour later that your mom and Erwin stumbled in the door and dropped the bags down by the card table where we had been wrapping gifts. Your mom was quick to wash her hands and start the mashed potatoes as you checked the ham. Hange had began to set the table with Erwin, a christmas playlist had been playing to set the mood. 

The Jeagers arrived right at 7, just in time. Grisha's arms were full with gifts, Carla toted two pies, Eren held a board game, and Mikasa had two bottles of red wine with ribbons around the necks of the bottles. Hugs and formalities were exchanged as they entered and put their gifts under the tree. Carla joined your mom in the kitchen to finish carving the ham. You and the other teens finished setting the table as everyone trickled into the dining room. 

Just as the ham was placed on the table and glasses of wine were poured, the doorbell rang once more. Kenny had arrived, surprisingly only thirty minutes late. He had a huge bottle of vodka and another sizable bottle of whiskey. Your mom greeted him, taking the liquor from him and pointing him to his seat. Now that all guests were accounted for you began to dish out food and recount the past holidays that your families spent together. It didn't go unnoticed that Kenny was a tad uncomfortable, but thanks to Grisha's easy going nature and Carla's friendliness, he slowly eased up. Of course you and the other teens had your own conversation separate from the adults. 

"-Do you remember that one year that I creamed you guys in Just Dance?" Hange gloated as she waved a forkful of ham in Eren's face. 

"Ugh yes, but only because that was the year that Mikasa's ankle was sprained." Eren deflected, lifting his own fork to push hers from his face. Mikasa blushed and shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. 

"Well I guess we'll just have to see if that was the real reason after a rematch!" Hange teased before biting into the hunk of meat. 

"I guess we will." Eren narrowed his eyes as he watched Hange chew the meat. 

"We should play Mario Kart first, I want to redeem myself." Armin was quick to change the subject. Always quick to avoid possible conflict. 

"Yeah I totally creamed you last time!" you gloated a cocky smile on your lips.

"W-What! No I had the most wins!" Eren's eyes were alight with anger. He was too easy to piss off. 

"Wrong!" you said in a sing song voice. 

"Knock it off you two." Erwin scolded from across the table, Eren's cheeks flushed when Erwin scolded him but you simply rolled your eyes. In the last few months Erwin had taken to hovering over you and your friends. It was strange, he had never shown so much interest in your social life until recently. At first you had been eager to tell him what was going on in your friend group, but now it was becoming annoying. 

"Lay off Erwin, it's all talk." you scoffed with a roll of your eyes. Erwin's eyes hardened at your snarky tone, your guests eyes flickered between the two of you as you glared at one another. Until finally you snorted and looked away with a shake of your head. 

"Uh...so who wants pie!" Armin, ever true to his anti confrontation nature filled the thick silence between the teens. Meanwhile the adults had continued to yammer on about all the hot hospital gossip. 

"I-I would." Eren played into Armin's excuse to change the subject. 

"Yeah sounds good." you sighed, defeated. Armin scrambled out of his seat and ducked into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with the pies. He dished out three pieces onto you and Eren's plates before serving himself. By the time he had returned, Hange had already changed the topic to the party the following day. You sat in silence as she rambled about the logistics for the party at your house. 

"I think that Nanaba is bringing mac and cheese, Mike is probably going to bring those snicker doodles that he always makes-" You tuned her out, not interested in her current rant. Tomorrow's party wasn't the party you were really excited for. So you instead turned to Mikasa, hoping to talk about your plans for the 26th. 

"So what time are you going to Annie's? Would you like to ride together?" you asked as you angled yourself to face her to better tune out Hange. 

"We are heading over around 9, and sure I'm driving." Mikasa responded as she stretched to serve herself a piece of pie. 

"Perfect, are you spending the night there?" you quizzed, unsure if you also wanted to spend the night there. 

"No, we were going to go back to Armin's but I can drop you off here if you want." Mikasa answered as she took a bite of pie. 

"Alright that sounds good!" you agreed, knowing that Mikasa was always a reliable designated driver. 

__

Dinner had gone relatively smooth, despite the tension that now hung in the atmosphere between you and Erwin. The rest of the evening was spent in the living room opening gifts with a Christmas movie marathon playing in the background. The Jeagers left around eleven, which was later than they usually stayed. Kenny took the guest bedroom in the basement, since he was spending Christmas day with your family anyway. You checked your phone with a heavy sigh, already it was twelve am. You contemplated texting Levi to tell him happy birthday, but you weren't sure he would be awake. It was already six in the morning in France, and usually he got his three hours of sleep between four and seven in the morning. But you decided that if he didn't answer you could leave him a voicemail or shoot him a text. So after you changed into your pajamas and had snuggled beneath your covers, you pulled up Levi's contact, your thumb hovering over the small phone icon. Finally you just said 'fuck it' and pressed the button, the phone rang three times before he answered. 

"Hey." his voice was thick and gravely as he spoke, immediately you felt bad. You knew that you must have woken him up and you cringed internally. 

"Hey happy birthday!" you greeted, making sure to keep your voice low so you wouldn't disturb Erwin and Hange. 

"Tch thanks." Levi mumbled, you pictured him running a hand down his face as he tried to wake up. 

"you're welcome birthday boy." you teased as you fell back onto your pillows. 

"shut up." Levi scoffed, you could hear his footsteps as he walked through the apartment, presumably to get his morning cup of black tea. 

"you know you love it." you sighed. 

"keep telling yourself that." Levi's voice was becoming clearer now that he was more awake. 

"I think that I will." you answered with a light laugh. 

"you still going to that party tomorrow?" Levi interrogated, you groaned. You had almost forgotten how he liked to stick his nose in your business, even when he was across the fucking ocean. 

"Yeah what about it?" you huffed, feeling a bit defensive. 

"Shouldn't you stay with your family or some shit." Levi sounded frustrated. 

"My mom said I could go." you pouted childishly. 

"Whatever." Levi grunted, and you frowned, unsure of where his frustration was coming form. 

"Aw come on no need to be jealous, I'm sure you can find some rager in Paris. Not like you'll be missing much here." you chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. 

"Hmph." Levi scoffed, you could hear the tinkling of his spoon as he stirred his tea. 

"So....when are you due to be home?" you asked, deciding it was best to change the subject. 

"Next week." Levi's tone was clipped. 

"I'm so jealous." you sighed dreamily. 

"Yeah Paris is way better than Shiganshina." Levi responded nonchalantly, you weren't sure if he was being serious or sarcastic. Either way he was telling the truth. 

"No need to rub it in my face." you chuckled. 

"Tch." He scoffed, you liked to imagine him smiling as he did so, even if he wasn't. 

"Well I hope that this next week goes by fast, as much as I hate to admit it I've... missed you." you confessed, the tips of your ears scorching hot with embarrassment. The silence was deafening as you waited for him to say something, hell anything even if it was making fun of you. 

"Whatever." he huffed, the butterflies in your stomach fluttered at the sound of his baritone voice. 

"Just don't stay out late tomorrow." he quipped and you frowned, why did he care how late you stayed out?

"No need to worry about me, I'll probably just stay sober with Mikasa." You told him, only half honest. 

"Never said I was worried about you." Levi sighed. 

"Hmph fine be like that." you scoffed and rolled your eyes, not surprised with his response. 

"Be like what?" He asked, genuinely curious what you meant. 

"Like an ass." you quipped. 

"Tch I'll quite being an ass when you stop being such a brat." Levi snapped, clearly you were approaching dangerous territory. 

"Okay okay chill." you muttered, backing down before things got too heated. 

"You're the one that brought it up.." Levi pointed out. 

"Yeah and now I'm regretting that" you sighed, wishing he wouldn't be so stubborn for once. He sighed as well and you heard a small clatter on his end of the line, you figured he was starting the dishes. 

"Look I've got some shit to do, I'll call you later okay?" Levi's voice was a tad strained and in the moment of silence you heard the sound of Isabel and Farlan bickering in hushed tones. 

"Y-Yeah sure of course." you couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. 

"Happy birthday Levi." you wished him once more. 

"Thanks, talk to you later brat." and with that he hung up, leaving you totally alone in your dark room. You plugged your phone in and rolled over onto your side, he could be so annoying. You inhaled sharply and decided that you would enjoy the party tomorrow to it's fullest. What he didn't know wouldn't kill him. 

___

"Hey can I borrow your lip gloss?" you asked Mikasa as you leaned forward to apply another coat of mascara to your lashes. 

"Sure which one?" she asked as she pulled her hair into high pigtails on top of her head. 

"The cherry one." you answered after a moment of contemplation. She finished her hair before reaching into her makeup bag and pulled out the tube of clear gloss. 

"Thanks." you said as you took the make up from her. You didn't usually put this much effort into your appearance when you went to parties but you figured since it was the first time you would be going to Annie's that this was a special occasion. Also you had a sneaking suspicion that two of your exes would be there and you at least wanted to look hot if you were going to get black out. 

Plus Mikasa was also dressed up, she wore a tight fitting black top with long sleeves and a low cut neck line that showed off her pale collarbones and neck. She had chosen to wear a choker that had metallic studs surrounding the black leather along with some other layered necklaces. To match her top she had selected a red plaid skirt and some torn tights. You weren't dressed nearly as edgy as she was, but you too had gone for a grungier look. You'd opted to wear a tattered pair of mom jeans along with a black cropped tank and an oversized flannel to cover your shoulders. 

You sighed as you finished applying the gloss and frowned, Eren and Armin were in the next room over blasting Post Malone. You assumed that Eren was on aux since Armin usually listened to Surfaces or Khalid. 

"You ready?" Mikasa asked as she pulled on her Doc Martens and double checked her earrings. 

"Yeah." you assured her as you stood up to grab your small backpack with an extra change of comfy clothes in case you ended up staying the night. The two of you left the room and knocked on Eren's door that was down the hall. 

"Just a minute!" Armin's shrill voice sounded a bit panicked but Mikasa simply shrugged and headed towards the kitchen. The Jeager's house was a ranch style house with one main floor and a nice basement. The two of you waited patiently in the kitchen for the boys, it was already well past nine. You scrolled through your snapchat, most of the stories were the regular group picture of friends having a sleepover, the druggie kids showing off their weed, and of course Sasha and Connie posted a video showcasing the house party at Annie's. From what the short video showed, her house was dark except for some LED lights that flashed through multiple different colors. The music was deafening, and the kids that you could see seemed to be swaying to the pulsing music.Sasha spun the camera around as she knocked back a shot with her arm around Connie who blew a puff of vapor at the camera. 

"Looks fun." Mikasa scoffed, you knew that she preferred more low-key parties. 

"If you end up not liking it we can always dip." You shrugged, knowing that this wasn't exactly your speed either. Mikasa hummed in agreement and turned to look down the hallway as Eren's door opened. The boys emerged from Eren's room, Eren wore a pair of black jeans and a dark forrest green long sleeved shirt. Armin wore a baby blue knit sweater with a collared shirt underneath and black jeans as well.

"All set?" Mikasa asked as she turned to pull out a bottle of titos with a cute little sweater over it. You smiled at the cute accessory and nodded. 

"Yep!" you said popping the p as the four of you all made your way out to Eren's car. You slid into the back seat next to Armin who was fiddling with the hem of his sweater nervously. Eren resumed his hype music as Mikasa backed out of the drive way. Eren pulled out his puff bar as soon as the car was out of the drive and took a long drag. Mikasa scoffed and cracked the window for him. He blew the billow of smoke out the window and reached to turn the music up. He reached back and dangled the puff for you to take, after a brief moment of hesitation you accepted it and cracked your window before taking a hit. Armin watched with wide eyes as you inhaled and blew the vapor out the crack. 

"Since when did you vape?" Armin asked, his mouth agape in awe. 

"I don't...at least not regularly." You admitted sheepishly. 

"That's what they all say." Eren chuckled, smoke curling out from his lips as he smirked. 

"Shut up I'm serious!" you snapped a playful smile on your face. Thankfully Annie's house wasn't far away, about a twenty minute drive. You pulled up to the house, it was huge. Standing at least three stories tall, with a long winding driveway. Mikasa pulled up behind one of the many cars in the drive way and parked the car. Mikasa led the way around to the side door, which was unlocked, piled of shoes littered the hallway. The sound of loud music greeted you as you walked into the kitchen on the main floor to set the alcohol you'd brought down. The real party was in the basement. 

The lights were off, leaving the only source of light to be the flickering LED lights, you couldn't even tell who was who. The air was heavy with the mingling aromas of cologne, vapes, and weed. Armin practically clung to you as the four of you waded through the crowd to get to the seating area in the center of the room. As you got closer the overpowering scent of weed assaulted your nose. There on the large L shaped couch was Annie, she held a large bong to her lips as Bertolt held the lighter under the weed, she inhaled deeply and the bong bubbled. She pulled back and blew a puff of smoke right in Reiner's face, the blonde's face scrunched up in disgust as he turned away to cough. 

"Yo." Annie greeted Mikasa who leaned down to dap her up. Once Annie had greeted Mikasa she turned her attention to Eren who was eyeing the bong. 

"You want a drag?" Annie offered, patting the sofa next to her. Eren nodded and dropped down between her and Bertolt, who once again struck the lighter for Eren. Mikasa rolled her eyes and waited patiently for Eren to finish his drag. Once the bong was out of the way she lowered herself down onto his lap and pulled her puff bar out to take a long drag. Armin shifted awkwardly behind you and tugged on your sleeve. 

"Want to go get something to drink?" he yelled over the booming music, you glanced at the bong longingly but decided that Armin needed you right now so you nodded in agreement. 

"Sure." the two of you pushed through the crowd to the minibar where an impressive amount of liquor was waiting. You poured some Bacardi into a glass of and added some pineapple and orange concentrates before handing the cup to Armin. He thanked you and quickly got to work on finishing the mixed drink. You poured yourself a rum and coke and then two shots of Malibu for you and Armin to take. The two of you knocked back the shots before wandering back over towards the couch. The crowd had thinned out a bit, something about watching a movie in Annie's in home movie theater. 

"-No that's bullshit, I know for a fact that you pissed your pants in the second grade Eren!" your eyebrows shot into your hairline at the words leaving Annie's mouth. 

"Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I don't notice shit." She huffed as she lifted the juul in her hand to her lips and took a long drag. 

"I-" 

"Just take the L Eren we all remember." Bertolt shook his head and chuckled at Eren's flushed cheeks. You glanced at Mikasa, usually she would defend Eren but she seemed content to let him struggle through this one on his own, still perched on his lap. 

"We've all had accidents before." Armin said with an awkward chuckle as he sat down beside Annie, who looked at him with a blank expression. 

"Like that time you tripped down the stairs and broke both your legs in fourth grade?" Annie quipped, a small smirk curling onto her lips. You choked on your drink at Annie's remark, she was an absolute savage. 

"Exactly..." Armin flushed, lifting his own cup to his lips. Your phone buzzed in your pocket, but you were too invested in the conversation to be bothered to pick it up. 

"Want a hit?" Annie offered the bong to you, you nodded. Although you'd never had weed before, you'd tried asking Levi for some of his but he always denied you. Annie held her hand out to Bertolt who placed the lighter in his open palm. She packed some more weed into the bowl before handing you the bong. 

"You ever done this before?" She asked as she kneeled in front of you. You shook your head, 

"Okay so I'll tell you when to inhale, and you've got to take a huge breath so you can get the smoke in your system. But then you'll have to take another breath to get it in your lungs." she instructed as she pressed the weed deeper into the bowl. 

"Okay." you agreed, she nodded and struck the lighter, holding the flame over the weed in the bowl. You pressed your lips to the mouth piece and waited for her instructions. 

"Inhale." she said once the weed was lit. You sucked in a big breath and the water in the bong bubbled. The smoke burned the insides of your throat as you inhaled it, you pulled the bong off your mouth and sucked in once more to get the smoke into your lungs. She nodded in approval as you coughed, smoke curling out of your mouth. 

"Not bad for your first time." she commented as she took the bong from you and passed it to Mikasa who took a long drag before passing it to Bertolt. 

"Thanks, that stuff burns." you coughed, Annie sat down next to you on the couch and draped her arm over the back. You felt the buzz from the weed and the shots you'd taken earlier, making your head spin a bit. Annie's thigh brushed against your own, you tried to focus on what she was wearing, a pair of grey sweats and a cute cropped peachy colored tank top with spaghetti straps. 

"I like your top." you complimented, her hand fell from the back of the couch to your shoulders. 

"Thanks." she said, turning to gauge your reaction to her touch. You swallowed a bit nervously, you'd known Annie since kindergarten, but you'd never really been friends before, she was always so quiet. 

"I always thought you were a good kid." Annie smirked, her eyes a bit playful. 

"What made you think that?" You giggled, shuffling closer to her. 

"Your brother is like the school's golden boy, and you are always in all the honors classes." she shrugged, you frowned. You were used to people coming up with these assumptions. She was right though, you did take honor classes, but that didn't mean you couldn't party! 

"I guess...But that doesn't mean that I don't enjoy partying." you countered. 

"I suppose." she chuckled, taking a hit from her juul and blowing the smoke away from your face. Your phone rang in your pocket and you frowned, as you dug it out of your pocket. Your frown deepened at the sight of Hange's contact lighting up your screen. 

"Hang on I should take this." you apologized, moving to stand up to find a quiet place to answer the phone. Annie snatched your wrist and pulled you back down on the sofa, the room spun as you fell back down and slumped against her shoulder. 

"Slow down there sweetheart." Annie chuckled as you leaned against her. 

"I got to go answer my-" 

"Nah just stay here, enjoy yourself." Annie pulled you closer, but your head was too foggy to protest, thoughts of your phone already fading into the back of your mind as Annie held the bong to your lips once more. 

__

"She's still not answering." Hange chewed on her knuckle as she glanced at Erwin who was gripping the steering wheel. His brows were knit tightly together with worry, Levi shifted in the back seat, tapping his fingers impatiently. 

"This is stupid, she can wait until tomorrow to see me." Levi huffed, trying his best to sound indifferent. 

"Oh don't say that Levi." Hange frowned as she looked back at Levi, her eyes deep with worry. 

"Don't worry about it." Levi grunted, turning his attention back to his phone. He opened snapchat, and scrolled through the stories. His eyes widened slightly when he stopped on Sasha's story, the video of the party played, he found himself looking for your silhouette among the swaying bodies. He tapped on his screen, expecting to move on to the next story, only to find a new video, added to her story less than ten minutes ago. A video of you with a red solo cup in one hand, and a juul in the other. You were leaned up against a blonde girl who was pushing a bottle of Pink Whitney against you, the pink alcohol sloshing in the glass. 

"Come on (Y/n) finish it off!" Sasha encouraged as the other kids on the couch picked up on her chant. 

"Finish it, Finish it." the crowd cheered as you sat down the cup and took the bottle from the blonde. You looked at the camera as Sasha shuffled closer. 

"No pa-paparazzi please." you giggled, hiccuping half way through your sentence. You lifted the bottle to your lips and tilted your head back, the liquid spilled down your front, making your skin glisten in the colorful lights as you chugged the alcohol you managed to get in your mouth. 

"Fuck yeah!!!" Sasha jeered, spinning the camera around to her face. The video ended and Levi felt his blood boil. He'd never seen you so out of it before and he hated it. He hated how easily you had given into doing something so stupid, he hated the sight of the juul in your fist, he hated the way the girl's arm was tightly wrapped around your waist, but most of all he hated that he wasn't there. 

"Wait, I think Sasha's snap map is on." Hange mumbled, her phone screen casting a pale glow over her glasses as she zoomed in on Sasha's bitmoji. Sure enough Sasha's bitmoji was on the map, surrounded by at least twenty other bitmojis gathered in one location. 

"Okay let's head that way then." Erwin sighed as he started the car and backed out of his parking spot in the airport parking lot. Erwin pulled out of the small airport that was about thirty minutes away from your town and set off towards Annie's house. Thankfully Annie lived on the outskirts of town so it wasn't as far of a drive. It wasn't long before Erwin was pulling up a long winding drive that was full of cars. He parked at the back of the line of cars and got out of the car with a heavy slam of his door. Levi slammed the back door of the minivan as hard as he could, the two of them marched up the driveway silently with Hange following nervously. 

"You guys please slow down it's icy out here." Hange begged as she slipped on one of the steps to the side door. The three of them piled into the house, Hange knew it was bad when Levi didn't bother to kick his shoes off before continuing towards the basement steps. Erwin stormed down the steps, the music getting louder as they descended. Erwin paused at the bottom of the steps to take in the scene, cups littered the floor, the room was hazy with smoke from juuls and the scent of weed clung to the air. A group of partygoers was crowded onto the couch, Levi's eyes narrowed onto the back of your head. 

"Yoooo that's ice cold." Eren's loud voice could be heard over the music as the teens passed the bong between one another. 

"No it's the truth." you slurred, the empty bottle of alcohol still in your fist. 

"Well sorryyy that I forgot that I had gum in my mouth." Connie said, waving his hands in front of his face. 

"You're an idiot." Sasha laughed boisterously as she shoved a handful of pretzels into her mouth. 

"damn straight." Annie agreed, taking the empty bottle from you and setting it on the coffee table. Erwin stalked across the room and stood behind Bertolt, who was now on the floor. The conversation came to a halt at the sight of the uninvited guests. 

"Woah I think I'm seeing things." you said, tilting your head downwards as you tried to understand why you were seeing your brother. 

"Me too." Reiner agreed, his own distant gaze honing in on his team captain. 

"Get up we're going home." Erwin's voice was cold and commanding as he glowered at you. 

"I don't wanna leave." your eyes hardened with denial. Erwin stepped over Bertolt, once he had moved your eyes landed on Levi, who was glaring at you with those dark eyes. 

"I'm definitely seeing things." you grunted as Erwin pulled you off the couch and away from Annie's warmth. 

"Hey man she said she didn't want to go." Annie snarled, jumping to her feet, her icy blue eyes sharp. 

"Yeah well she's drunk as shit and doesn't know what she's saying." Levi snapped back at Annie, who had a hand clamped down around your arm. Hange shifted nervously behind the couch as she watched the scene unfold. 

"You need to leave." Annie growled, pointing a finger at the stairs. 

"That's what we're trying to do dumb ass." Levi growled, taking a step closer to the circle of teens. 

"Leave her alone she can make her own decisions." Reiner quipped, rising to his own feet. 

"Stay out of this Braun." Erwin ordered, releasing you so he could turn and face Reiner. 

"I'm just saying, she chose to come here on her own and she's enjoying herself so let her be." Reiner shrugged. 

"She's had enough tonight." Erwin countered, shifting his gaze back to you as you swayed on your feet. 

"No I haven't" you frowned up at Erwin. 

"Yes you have. We're leaving end of discussion." he said with finality, once more reaching for your wrist. 

"I'm not leaving Erwin." you protested, pulling yourself free from his grasp. He snatched your wrist once more and tugged you away from the circle. You gasped and stumbled after him, the protests of your friends echoing loudly in your head. Erwin hauled you up the stairs and out the side door, Levi and Hange close on your heels. He only slowed once you were walking down the driveway. You wrenched yourself free once more with a strangled cry. 

"I said I don't want to leave!" you screamed, a few tears sliding down your cheeks. 

"You always embarrass me in front of my friends just give me this one night!" you cried, the cold air making your face beet red. 

"You'll thank me later." He said simply before turning to continue down the driveway. 

"No I won't I'm going back inside." you turned on your heel and marched back towards the door, only for Levi to catch your wrist. 

"You've had enough for one night." He scolded as you struggled against his hold. Hange chewed on her bottom lip with worry at the sight, this was not how she planned your reunion. 

"Levi let me go." you said with finality as you met his eyes. 

"No, you're going home." Levi's voice was tense. 

"No I'm not." 

"(Y/n) you're going home and that's final." Erwin sighed, running a hand down the side of his face. You spun around and glared at him. 

"You're not my fucking dad Erwin so quit acting like it! Jesus it's so annoying I'm tired of it!" you screamed, your chest heaving with frustration, your breath coming out with puffs of vapor. Hange and Levi stood deathly still, knowing that the topic of your father was a sensitive one. 

"Fine be that way." Erwin snarled and marched to the van and climbed in with a slam of his door. Hange rushed to get in the car without a second glance over her shoulder. Levi remained firmly rooted to the ground, his hand still wrapped firmly around your wrist as you cried. 

"Get out of here Levi." you sobbed, shaking your arm to throw his hand off. He finally let you go, his head tilted down to the ground. You huffed, wrapping your arms around your chest before turning on your heel and stalking back towards the house. Levi stood there a moment longer just listening to the sound of your receding footsteps before he padded back to Erwin's car and slid into the backseat. 

__ 

Your head was spinning as you pressed your back against the bathroom door, your lip quivering as you tried to contain your tears. You knew that you'd hurt both Erwin's and Levi's feelings, you also knew that they were only trying to help you. But there was only so much help you could except from them without them toeing the line between helpful and overbearing. You slid down the door with a whimper, you hugged you knees to your chest and rested your chin on top of them. A knock startled you out of your moping, 

"(Y/n)? You in there?" You groaned when you recognize Jean's voice. 

"Open the door please." He said softly and you felt more tears fall down your cheeks as you reached up for the knob to unlock the door. The lock clicked and you shuffled to lean agains the wall so he could open the door. 

"Hey" he said as he stuck his head in, his amber eyes soft with worry. 

"Hey" you sniffled, turning your head up to meet his gaze. 

"What's wrong?" He asked, slipping into the small bathroom and closing the door behind him. He crouched down in front of you, his elbows propped on his own knees as he got onto your level. 

"Well for starters, you kissed someone else when we were talking." you said a bit venomously. He cringed and plopped down to sit criss cross applesauce instead. 

"I'm sorry I know that I shouldn't have done that but, I've been really confused....like sexually I guess." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and your frowned. 

"I know, but it still hurt my feelings." you mumbled, a few fresh tears falling from your watery eyes. 

"I shouldn't have led you on like that, it was a real jerk move." Jean agreed, his eyes still soft and comforting. You'd missed being his friend you realized as you sat on the cold tile. 

"I've missed talking to you." you spoke your mind, managing a small smile. 

"Me too, let's be friends again?" he proposed, offering his hand to you. Your smile grew wider as you extended your own hand to grasp his. You shook hands briefly. 

"So are you and Marco a couple now?" you asked. 

"Sort of.." Jean chuckled. 

"You want to go back to the party now?" He asked, jutting a thumb towards the door. You nodded, although now you were beginning to sober up. He stood and offered his hands to help you to your feet. You accepted his hands and he pulled you to your feet. The two of you walked slowly down the steps to rejoin the circle of teens in the living room. Jean stopped at the bottom of the stairs his hand held loosely in your own. He squeezed your hand, asking for your attention. You turned and faced him, a questioning look on your face. 

"You've got some-" He chuckled, lifting his thumb to his mouth and licking it before wiping away some rogue mascara off your cheeks. You gasped in mock offense as he wiped away the makeup. 

"You're not my mom." you teased, pulling your face free as you turned to head back into the fray, trusting that Jean got all the black marks off your face. 

"Nobody could replace Angie." Jean agreed as he followed you into the basement. The group of previously rowdy teens was now subdued due to your brother and his meddling party crasher friends. 

"Hey look who's back!" Reiner greeted, causing all the heads to turn back to you. You smiled sheepishly and dropped back into your seat next to Annie. 

"You alright?" She asked, her eyes scanning you meticulously for any signs of injury. 

"Yeah I'm- I'll be alright." you stumbled over your words as the group watched you carefully. 

"You want a uh beer or something?" Connie asked, lifting up an unopened can. 

"No she doesn't you idiot!" Sasha snapped, elbowing Connie harshly. 

"Ow well I was just trying to make her feel better!" Connie cried, turning to tackle Sasha. The two began to tussle, rolling around on the floor grunting as they struggled. You smiled, the pair never failed to make you happy. Annie draped her arm over you again as the boys began to place bets on who would come out victorious. 

"If Sasha wins you've got to drink one of Connie's mixed drinks!" Eren said, leaning over to Bertolt who scoffed, his boyish features contorting with disgust. Connie was known for making the worst mixed drinks. 

"You're on Jeager." he reached over Reiner and the two shook in agreement before turning their attention to the scuffle. 

"Come on Sasha!" Eren jeered as Sasha bit down hard on Connie's hand. The boy yelped and tried to desperately pry her locked jaws off his hand. He gave up quickly and resorted to hitting her head with his closed fist, his face wild with panic. 

"Tickle her neck" Mikasa suggested as she lifted a red solo cup to her lips. Your eyes widened in surprise, Mikasa usually kept quiet during these scuffles, unless of course it was Eren being thrown around. Connie's free hand flew down to Sasha's armpit and immediately Sasha released his other hand to roll away from him. Connie regained the upper hand, pinning Sasha beneath him as he tickled her ruthlessly. Jean groaned and slapped a wad of bills into Reiner's open palm as Sasha slapped the ground in defeat. Connie threw his hands into the air and rolled off Sasha who was fighting for breath. 

"Traitor" she moaned, her brown eyes glaring at Mikasa who shrugged indifferently. Eren groaned and frowned at Mikasa. 

"Why'd you do that?" He asked as Bertolt looked relieved. Mikasa shrugged once more a sly smile on her face as Eren pushed her off his lap. 

"So" Connie jumped to his feet and clapped his hands together. 

"About that drink." he turned and strutted over to the mini bar, followed by a sulking Eren and a smug Bertolt. You turned to Sasha who was now straddling Mikasa her hands around Mikasa's shoulders as she jostled the girl. 

"Come on Mikasa why'd you sell me out like that?" she whined as she shook the girl, Mikasa's drink sloshing in her cup. Mikasa smiled as her eyes drifted to the group of boys, Connie had a large bottle of Tito's and a two liter of Mt. Dew in his hands as he inspected the two, his face scrunched up with concentration. 

"Come on Sasha it's not like you wouldn't do the same if it were me." Mikasa scoffed with a roll of her eyes. You snorted at Mikasa's response, knowing that she was indeed correct. Sasha gasped and shook Mikasa harder. 

"I would never do that to you! Besides you would win in any fight you fought." Sasha objected, leaning back on Mikasa's lap her arms extended. 

"Psh whatever." Annie scoffed, a playful smirk on her lips. 

"Not all of us are masters at kickboxing." Sasha pouted as she climbed off Mikasa's lap and dropped onto the empty space next to her. You knew that Mikasa had participated in the sport for the past few years, but you were confused when Sasha looked between Annie and Mikasa. 

"What you didn't know?" Annie asked with a smirk. You shook your head, 

"No I guess I don't know." you laughed as Annie licked her lips and she threw her arm back over your shoulders. 

"Mikasa and I are on the same kickboxing club." She shrugged as you settled back into her side. Your mouth opened into an 'o' shape in realization as Annie dug her juul out of her pocket and took a hit. Mikasa nodded in agreement, her eyes shifting back over to the boys, who were laughing loudly as Eren chugged a cup of mystery liquid. 

"Really? I had no idea." you said as you followed Mikasa's gaze. Eren was now leaned over gagging as Armin patted his back with a worried expression. 

"-You dodged a bullet there!" Reiner quipped as he patted Bertolt's back as the tall boy watched with a disgusted face. 

"Hey where did Ymir and Krista run off to?" Sasha asked, whipping her head around to look for the pair. 

"Probably making out in some corner." Reiner scoffed as he dropped back onto the sofa, the rest of the boys rejoining the group as well. You nodded in agreement, it was no secret that the pair had been seeing each other recently. 

"Guess so." Sasha sighed, slumping back into the sofa, throwing a glare at Connie who was now seated next to her with an arm over the back of the couch. Eren and Armin were the only once unaccounted for, you assumed that they had fled to the bathroom given the state Eren had been in after drinking Connie's concoction. Jean had managed to slip away with all the commotion, probably to return to Marco. Annie sighed, glancing at her phone with a frown, it was well past three at this point and you were starting to feel the fatigue. 

"Well I think that I'm heading off to bed." Annie yawned, the others seemed to be mellowing out as well. 

"You guys can crash here or my brother's room is open as well as my sisters rooms." She said as she stood up. You immediately missed her warmth as she lingered by the couch. 

"I call Eric's room!" Sasha perked up, also standing up to run towards Annie's younger brother's room. 

"No fair!" Connie yelled, giving chase. Mikasa sighed and stood up as well. 

"I'd better go check on Eren and Armin." She mumbled as she stalked off towards the bathroom. 

"Are you staying the night then?" Annie asked you as you also stood up, not sure if you should go after Mikasa. 

"I'm not sure, Mikasa was going to take me back to her place..." 

"You can sleep in my room with me." She offered, tilting her head towards the stairs. You bit your lip as you weighed your options. Mikasa had been drinking and smoking and you knew that she wasn't stupid enough to drive so you figured that you weren't leaving any more. 

"We'll sleep in Sarah's room." Reiner said as he and Bertolt began to retreat up the stairs. Leaving just you and Annie in the basement living room, she raised a brow as she waited for your answer. 

"No pressure." She said as she began to walk towards the stairs. 

"Yeah I'll sleep with you." you blurted as you jogged to catch up to Annie. She smirked at your wording and you flushed. 

"Not like that!" you slapped her arm as she led the way up to the top floor which was a maze of closed doors. She slipped into one of the closed doors, into a large bedroom with a queen sized bed in the center of the room. She emptied her pockets before climbing into bed, pulling the covers back for the both of you. You slid into the open side and sat your phone on the bedside table. Annie sighed with relief as she nestled into the covers, scrolling through her phone as you closed your eyes in an attempt to sleep. After a few minutes Annie put her phone down and rolled over, now her front was facing your back. 

"You awake?" She whispered, you rolled over to face her as well. 

"Yeah" you answered, resting your head on your arm as you focused on her features as best as you could in the dim lighting. 

"You wanna make out?" she asked, your eyes widened in shock. You weren't sure if she was being serious or not. 

"For real?" you blinked rapidly as Annie shuffled closer and pushed a lock of hair out of your face. 

"I mean yeah." she huffed a shy smile on her face. You pursed your lips in thought, you had never kissed a girl before, and it wasn't like the thought of doing so had never crossed your mind. You shrugged and leaned slightly into her touch. 

"Yes or no." She said as she propped herself up on her elbow so she was looking down on you. 

"Sure." you agreed, she leaned down as soon as the words left your lips. Her lips were so soft compared to the boys that you'd kissed in the past. Her hand that had been in your hair now traced over your cheek bones as she licked your bottom lip. You opened your mouth for her to slip her tongue in, the taste of weed and pink whitney mingling on her breath. You met her tongue a bit timidly as she licked your bottom teeth. She pulled back after a moment to readjust herself so that she was now laying down on top of you, caging you in her arms as she leaned down to kiss your chin. 

"You're so cute." she mused, her lips pressed against the corner of your mouth. 

"You're really pretty" you breathed as her lips hovered over your own once more before connecting her lips with yours once more.


	12. Popcorn

"Come on (Y/n)" Mikasa jostled your shoulder, the sunlight barely seeping into Annie's room thanks to her thick curtains and the overcast outside. Your eyes cracked open and you grunted as Mikasa lifted her hand from your shoulder. You sat up, your hair sticking our in odd angles as you blinked sleepily at Mikasa. 

"What time is it?" you mumbled as you rubbed the sleep from your eyes. Annie was buried under the covers still asleep. 

"It's eight in the morning." Mikasa informed as you reluctantly climbed out of the warm bed. Mikasa waited patiently for you by the door as you grabbed your phone and shrugged your flannel back on. You noticed that Mikasa's eyes lingered on chest and neck and you flushed, hazy memories of the night prior returning to you slowly. You looked around for your jeans, vaguely recalling taking them off before going to sleep. You were certain that you and Annie hadn't done anything beyond some heavy petting and kissing. You found your pants and pulled them on quickly, buttoning them as you and Mikasa left the room and descended the stairs to the main floor where you had left your shoes and coat. 

As the two of you walked out the side door you noticed that most of the cars were still in the drive way, Eren's car was running and you could make out both Eren and Armin in the car already. Mikasa paused a few feet away from the car and quirked a brow at you. 

"So you and Annie?" she mused, you groaned and rubbed the side of your face, your head pounding. 

"No we just kissed." you clarified, it had been a good experience but you knew that you wouldn't want to have a relationship with Annie. At least at this time. 

"I didn't know you were into girls." Mikasa said softly. You shrugged and smiled at her. 

"Neither did I, well I guess I thought I'd never act on those feelings." you chuckled as you licked your lips and clutched your throat thoughtfully. 

"I see." Mikasa left it at that as she closed the distance to the drivers side and climbed in. You slid into the backseat with Armin, doing your best to cover yourself with your coat. Armin had his head in his hands as he leaned forward in his seat, his blonde hair curtaining over his face. 

"You alright?" you asked as Mikasa turned around and pulled out of the driveway. Eren was leaning back in his seat, his eyes closed. Armin nodded and leaned back with a sigh. 

"Yeah, it was just a long night." he smiled tiredly at you and you nodded in agreement. 

"Yeah it was." you agreed as you turned to look out at the snowy scenery. 

"Should I take you home?" Mikasa asked tentatively, you pursed your lips in thought, if you went home now you hoped that you could just go to bed and that your brother would give you some space. However if you went to the Jeagers you knew that you could sleep for the rest of the day undisturbed. But the thought of your own bed was too enticing. 

"Yes please." you finally said, Mikasa nodded and turned down onto one of the many winding back roads that would take you to your house. It must have snowed some more last night because now the trees were heavy with snow, the roads still bathed in a white with few tire tracks. It was an early Saturday morning so it wasn't surprising that people had chosen to stay home, especially given the icy state of the roads. You began to get nervous as Mikasa turned onto your road and then onto your driveway. You noticed that Erwin and Hange's cars were both in the driveway, both covered in snow. You thanked Mikasa and told her to text you when they got home safely before climbing out, slinging your bag over your shoulder and pulling your house key out. You waved as they pulled out of the drive and out onto the road. You unlocked the door as quietly as you could, kicking off your shoes and tip toeing through the kitchen and up the stairs. The house was quiet and dark, you made sure to be extra quiet as you walked past Erwin's room, shutting your door behind you, you sighed with relief before once again sliding your jeans off and slipping into a pair of grey sweats. 

You plugged your phone in and crawled under your covers, your head still spinning as you fell into your pillows. You drifted in and out of sleep for about four hours before giving up on getting more rest. Besides, the bustling sounds of your mom, Erwin, and Hange in the kitchen was growing from a muffle, to a roar in your hungover state. You threw the covers off before padding over to your closet in search of something to cover your bruised neck. You paused at your vanity and switched on your lamp to inspect the damage. Dark purple bruises littered your throat and collarbones, you counted at least four bad ones. You hissed as you touched the sensitive skin, the highest hickey was right below your jaw, nearly impossible to cover. You cursed as you continued with your task of finding a hoodie to throw on. Thankfully that covered all except the one below your jaw. 

You sat at your vanity and began rubbing a quarter over the area in hopes of lightening the bruise before applying concealer. You frowned, setting down the quarter to inspect your work, the angry skin was still red, but not nearly as bad, so your began to blend in some concealer. Once you were pleased with your handy work you grabbed your empty water bottle and steeling your nerves to go down to the kitchen. As you descended the stairs you could smell your mom making lunch, hear Hange's tik tok for you page, and see Erwin at the dining room table typing away on his laptop. No signs of Levi, maybe you had been seeing things last night. Your mom turned to greet you a smile on her face as you walked to the fridge to refill your water. 

"Good morning sleeping beauty." She teased as she leaned over to ruffle your hair. You smiled weakly at her and batted her hand away from your head. 

"Good afternoon." you greeted as you screwed the cap back onto your water. 

"Want something to eat?" she asked as she nodded towards the skillet with butter and bread, you noticed a sliced avocado and some lunch meat and cheese. Your stomach churned at the thought of food but you nodded, knowing that it would make you feel better. 

"Yes please." you said as you wandered over to sit next to Hange, who now was watching you intently. 

"What are your plans for today?" she asked as you sat next to her. You shrugged, not having though that far in advance. 

"Not sure yet." you admitted as Hange pursed her lips in thought. 

"How about dinner and a movie with Erwin, Levi and I?" She offered, a hopeful look on her face. You knew that Hange dealt with most conflict like this, favoring to act like nothing had happened, unless of course it was a big fight. You nodded, deciding that it might be nice and give you a chance to apologize for last night. But not too much apologizing because you knew that you had been right in standing your ground. 

"Who's house?" you asked curiously, mostly expecting her to say that it would be at your house. 

"Levi's." she smiled sheepishly, your mouth fell open into an 'o', usually Levi tried to keep his friends away from his house. You'd never been insides, the closest you'd gotten was his driveway when Erwin picked him up a few times before Levi got his license. 

"Huh okay. What time?" you asked, glancing at the clock. 

"As soon as we finish lunch." it was already twelve thirty, a bit early to watch movies. 

"Really? Isn't that a bit....early?" you chewed your lip nervously, feeling unprepared for what would be another casual evening. Hange shrugged and stirred her cup of iced coffee with a smile. 

"Yeah I guess but Levi's probably just going to sleep through it anyway." she chuckled, your brows furrowed, remembering that Levi was probably exhausted from his travels and your temper tantrum. 

"Oh yeah, why'd he come back so early did something happen?" you asked, hoping that Hange would shed some light on the situation. 

"Ah well he just decided that he missed me too much." she winked at you but you noticed the brief flash of uncertainty across her face. Whether she wasn't telling you the full truth or she herself was unsure remained a mystery. 

"Say want to come upstairs and help me with my history?" She asked after moment of silence when she noticed you were spiraling into the recesses of your thoughts. 

"Sure but why do you need my help?" you asked as Hange grabbed your wrist and drug you up stairs to Erwin's room. You frowned when you couldn't see her backpack or any of her school supplies that she usually had scattered around the room. 

"Wheres your-" 

"I'm so sorry about last night." Hange took your hands into her own and looked at you with wide eyes. You felt your lip quiver as she ran her thumbs over your knuckles. 

"It's fine it's not your fault." you mumbled as your eyes fell to the floor. 

"But it is! I convinced Levi to come back early." she confessed, her glasses fogging up as her eyes watered. Your eyes widened at her confession, but still you didn't blame her. It was Erwin that you were mad with right now, not Levi. 

"I'm not mad at you or Levi." you said softly, squeezing her hand in reassurance. She sniffled, and pushed her gently pulled her hands back to push her glasses off her face so she could wipe a single tear off her cheek. 

"You're not?" she asked, a small smile gracing her lips. 

"No, I just got frustrated with Erwin. If I'd known that Levi was coming home then I wouldn't have gone to the party." you explained, glad that you were able to clear the air between you and Hange. You chuckled airily as she pulled you into a tight hug. 

"I know he can be overbearing at times but, he just cares about you. He doesn't want to screw you up." she mumbled into your hair as she rubbed your back soothingly. You hugged her back just as tightly. 

"I know." you sighed as you buried your head into her shoulder. 

"You don't have to apologize just yet, but I would like you two to come to terms sooner rather than later." she said softly, you nodded in agreement. You hated fighting with Erwin, but you knew that if you didn't say something about how you felt, then he would never catch on. Admittedly, you wished that you'd handled the whole ordeal sober, but there was no going back now. 

"Yeah I guess." you agreed as Hange pulled the two of you onto Erwin's bed. She smiled at you, pleased with herself. 

"So, want to tell me about the party last night? Seemed like fun!" she said as she fell back onto the bed on her back. You remained seated as you tried to think of where to start. 

"It was fun...we mostly just sat around and talked." you shrugged as you turned to gauge her reaction. 

"Annie's got a huge house." Hange commented with a chuckle, you nodded in agreement. 

"She does" 

"Did you see Jean?" She asked, propping herself up on her elbows to study you. 

"Yeah, he found me after you left. Sat with me in the bathroom for a little bit before we went back with the group." you nodded, giving her a smile. 

"You call him out?" she quizzed as her eyes widened. 

"Not really, I think that he's got some stuff going on and I don't want to give him too hard of a time." you shrugged indifferently, you were over that drama. 

"Ah I see, well there's plenty of fish in the sea." Hange plopped back down onto her back and fell silent. 

"Yeah and lots of trash." you huffed, Hange snorted. 

"Damn right." 

__

You spent the rest of the afternoon with Hange and Erwin in his room, Erwin continued to work as you and Hange sat on his bed talking and scrolling through your phones. The winter days were short, so by the time that five had rolled around, the sun had already sunk below the horizon. Erwin's phone chimed and he paused his work to glance at the lit screen. 

"He says to come now." He said, shutting his laptop and crossing the room to throw on a fresh shirt. 

"Took him long enough." Hange grunted as she stretched and stood up as well. 

"What movie are we watching?" you asked as you shoved your phone into your pocket. 

"Probably Pulp Fiction, it's his favorite you know." Hange said with a wink as she stooped to pick up one of her bras off the floor. Your nose scrunched with slight disgust as she pulled her shirt off and pulled the bra on. You were also guilty of wearing the same bra more than once, but the thought of Hange and your brother doing stuff made you want to barf. 

"Hm okay." you said as you went to go double check your appearance in the bathroom. You decided that instead of wearing sweats, you would change into a pair of leggings so you didn't look like a complete hobo. Once you were changed, you rushed down the stairs to meet Hange and Erwin at the door. 

"I can drive since you drove last night." Hange said, spinning her keys around her pointer finger as she watched Erwin pull his shoes on. 

"Fine" Erwin agreed as he slid his arms into his letter jacket, you pulled your own shoes on and the three of you carefully made your way out to Hange's car. You sat in the back, bouncing your knee anxiously as you neared your destination. You felt both excited and nervous, although you spent a lot of time with Erwin and his friends, it wasn't often that they invited you along with them for outings like these. 

Hange pulled up to Levi's house, a modest home with two cars parked in the driveway, one you recognized as Levi's and another that you knew to be Kenny's. The three of you walked up the the front door and Erwin let himself in after a curt knock. The front door led you right into Levi's living room, where Kenny was passed out asleep watching some car show. The three of you tip toed past him and into the kitchen, and down a short hallway, pausing in front of a door. You looked at the pictures on the wall, most of them of Kenny and a young woman that you assumed was Levi's mother. There were a few younger pictures of Levi, one with his mother, but most of him and Kenny. 

Erwin pushed the door open and led the way down to the basement. The t.v was already on and you could see the hazy smoke of Levi's dab pen lingering in the air. You could make out the top of his head peeking over the small couch. The basement was small, not much beyond two small couches and a tv. Although there was a pool table jammed into the far corner. You noticed a small shelf with a record player on top, a neatly organized stack of records filed underneath it. Levi didn't acknowledge the three of you as Hange and Erwin plopped down onto the couch opposite of Levi. You sat stiffly on the opposite end of Levi's couch. He scrolled through the tv before pulling up The Goonies. The movie started and Hange and Erwin cuddled up together and began whispering and giggling. 

Levi sat his phone down and leaned back into the couch, you curled your legs up beneath yourself as you tried to get comfortable. Levi glared at you as you shifted for the millionth time. 

"Quick wiggling around" he scolded and you paused, your legs now spread as you leaned back into the leather couch. 

"Sorry" you mumbled as you tried to pay attention. 

"You want a blanket?" Hange asked as she grabbed a neatly folded balnket off the back of her couch. You nodded and held your hands up to catch the bundle. She tossed it and you covered yourself quickly. Erwin and Hange had already found a blanket to wrap up in, you watched as the police scene in the movie continued to unfold. You doubted that Levi would bring up the night prior, especially seeing that he hadn't even bothered to greet you yet. You brought your legs back up to the couch and grunted in frustration as you tried to find a comfortable position. 

As you finally settled on leaning agains the arm of the couch with your legs slanted sideways, but this positon hurt your knees, so as you moved to throw them back over the edge. You sighed and glanced longingly at Hange, wishing that she would sit with you. You considered squeezing in next to her on the couch, and decided to give it a try. You wrapped the blanket around your shoulders and stood up, Levi glanced at you, his eyes narrowed into slits. You shuffled across the room and plopped down onto Hange's lap. She wrapped her arms around you and leaned back into the couch. 

"What's wrong little baby?" she teased as she held you. 

"I'm just cold" you lied as she rubbed your arms to warm you up. 

"Sureeee" Hange said, poking your cheek. Erwin scoffed and pushed you off Hange's lap. You fell with a thud onto the ground, you gasped as you looked up at Erwin. 

"Jerk" you huffed, throwing the blanket off and lunging at him. He easily knocked you back onto your ass, but stood up to his full height. You came at him once more, this time trying to throw him off balance by tackling his midsection. He chuckled and allowed you to throw your weight into the attack, your sock covered feet sliding against the carpet comically. Finally Erwin tired of watching you struggle and looped an arm under your own midsection and threw you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Levi scoffed as Erwin dangled you near his face, you clawed at Erwin's back, looking for anything to grab onto. You flailed around, but you couldn't do much since Erwin had you flipped upside down, your back against his own broad back. Finally you fell still, relaxing your muscles and allowing the blood to rush to your face. 

Levi's eyes widened at the sight of dark purple marks that were littered along the column of your throat. He felt a rage spark in his chest, his eyes zeroed in on the bruises, the edges of them still prickled red and irritated. They had to have been from the previous night, but from who? That jerk that cheated on you? Or that blonde that you'd dated the previous year? The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. 

Erwin dropped you down and you quickly smoothed your clothes down, giving him a weary glare. He fell back onto the sofa by Hange and with a heavy sigh, returned his attention back to the TV. You gave Hange's lap one last longing look before returning to your seat by Levi. You felt the tension radiating off him in thick waves, you also tensed, trying to prepare yourself for whatever had set him off this time. 

"Levi, can we have some popcorn?" Hange pleaded, her hands clasped together as she gave Levi soft pleading puppy eyes. 

"Tch." Levi threw his blanket off and stood, for once he was happy to have an excuse to escape the stuffy basement. 

"I'll come with you" you offered, jumping to your feet and following him up the stairs. Levi stalked through the dark hall and into the kitchen, where he riffled through the cabinets and pulled a handful of popcorn packets. You shifted awkwardly near the small table before deciding to take a seat. It was an interesting shift in the dynamic that you'd become so familiar with, usually you were the one jumping through hoops to please your guests. While Levi was by no means going to great lengths to ensure his guests' comfort, it was still fun to watch him fill the role of host for once. 

"Want to tell me about what got into you last night?" Levi's cold voice made you flinch. You felt the guilt seep back into you, making you feel heavy and a tad sick. 

"If I'd known you were coming back I wouldn't have gone." you said honestly, your eyes falling to your lap. 

"That's a shit explanation." Levi scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the counter. Your head snapped up, rage filling you once more. It wasn't fair of him to dictate your social life when he went and partied whenever he pleased. 

"It's not like you don't go to parties like that." you replied, your eyes meeting his dark ones. 

"Doesn't mean it's right." Levi said as he pushed off the counter and stalked across the kitchen to stand on the opposite end of the table. 

"Look, I appreciate your concern but it was my choice, and I was having fun until you guys showed." You stood up and glared daggers at Levi. 

"Right, and I assume that whoever gave you those disgusting marks was having fun too?" he snarled, his hand gesturing towards your neck. Your hand flew to your throat to cover the marks Annie had given you.

"If you're jealous just say so." you growled, as you matched his shitty attitude. 

"Why would I be jealous? If I wanted you I would already have had you." his words cut through you. 

"Then quit acting so psycho! You're giving me these crazy mixed signals." you snapped, your voice cracking with emotion. 

"I'm not the one giving mixed signals, you're the one who kissed me and then gave me blue balls." Levi hissed has hand slapped loudly against the table in his frustration and you flinched, eyes widening at his sudden outburst. 

"I was seeing Jean and you were with Petra, it doesn't matter how we felt. It was wrong of us to do that." You argued, your voice surprisingly level despite the turmoil of emotions underneath the surface of your facade. Levi scoffed and placed his other hand on the table as he leaned onto the surface. 

"Doesn't change the fact that it happened." Levi reasoned, you knew that he was right, that in your moment of impulsiveness when it boiled down to it, the both of you had made a bad decision. One that had not only damaged the already fragile relationship between the two of you but also the relationship between your friends as well. 

"I know..." you sighed, the frustration seeping into your tone. You ran a hand through your hair as you looked down at the table, not wanting to meet his gaze. The kitchen fell silent, the sounds of Kenny snoring in the other room and the popcorn popping made you feel as if you were dreaming. 

"Look" Levi sighed as he ran a hand down the side of his face, which was twisted into a scowl. You turned to look up at him. 

"When-When I'm around you, god this is stupid." He huffed in frustration as he covered his eyes with a hand, his cheeks flushed red. You waited patiently, knowing that moments like these with Levi were few and far between. 

"I question everything I do and I get all...jumbled up inside I guess." he continued after a moment. You remained silent, waiting to see if he was finished yet. 

"I know that when we kissed it was wrong but I didn't care because, my judgement is all clouded when you're around. And I hate it." he finally took his hand off his face and your stomach dropped at his words. 

"But at the same time...I kind of like it?" Levi groaned and dropped into one of the chairs, running his hands through his hair and tugging at the roots. 

"Levi-" 

"Don't, I don't want to hear it." Levi interrupted you, holding a hand up as he sighed heavily. The microwave beeped and he stood up quickly to pull the hot bag of popcorn out and pour it into a bowl. You stood up and waited patiently for him to finish once more. 

"Levi just listen okay" you pleaded, standing between him and the basement. 

"Fine." he relented, placing the bowl on the table gently. 

"I like spending time with you too, I just know that you're going to college and I guess that it felt a bit unfair that you finally started paying attention to me right before you had to go." you told him, kicking your toe against the floor as you looked down at the immaculately clean floors. You heard the floorboards creak as he shifted as well, unsure of what to do or say next. 

"I see..." he muttered as he watched you fidget, your ears felt hot as you still refused to meet his gaze. 

"Its settled then." He said, closing the space between you, he caught your hand in his and held it firmly in his grasp. 

"I'll stay here, with you." He ran his calloused thumb over your knuckles, and you inhaled sharply, as good as those words felt, you knew that it would be insanely selfish to hold him captive here. 

"I can't ask that of you." you said, finally daring to look up at him, his silver eyes were soft in the dim lighting. 

"It's not like it's all that bad around here." Levi shrugged as he continued to toy with your fingers, his dull gaze held no fire any longer, making your heart squeeze. 

"I know but people say that these next few years of your life are the best, I couldn't ask you to stick around here and miss out on college life." you spoke softly, knowing that if you weren't careful that you could set him off again. 

"That's a load of shit." Levi scoffed, bringing your hand up to his lips and placing a small peck onto your knuckles. You flushed, becoming a bit frustrated with his reasoning. 

"I think you're missing my point..." you said as he looked up at you, his gaze hardening at your tone. 

"Which would be?" Levi asked incredulously as he brought your hand up for another sweet kiss. 

"My point is that I don't want to be heart broken when you leave for college or whatever it is that you decide to do." you huffed, but allowed him to kiss the inside of your wrist, feeling his lips curl into an almost impish smirk. 

"So you admit that being apart breaks your heart?" Levi asked a tab coyly as he looked at you, eyes shining with mischief. You stuck your tongue out and looked away in an attempt to hide your flushed cheeks. 

"Of course! If there's one thing I learned over these past few months it's that I hate being away from you, even if when you're around you're just a jerk." you admitted begrudgingly, saying it out loud made you realize how the situation seemed a bit toxic, but you couldn't care too much about that in this moment. 

"Then I won't leave, I'll go to school online and work for my uncle." Levi shrugged nonchalantly and you felt your heart flutter, but you squashed your feelings before they could swell too much. 

"Levi, is that what you really want?" you asked, squeezing his hand to hold his attention. Levi's brows furrowed thoughtfully as he watched your fingers intertwine with his. 

"I don't know what I want, school wise that is. But I do know that I want to be with you." He said, his voice steady and confident as you smiled at him softly. 

"That's good enough for me." you sighed, standing to your full height as he grabbed the popcorn, the two of you had kept Erwin and Hange waiting long enough.


End file.
